Hiring and paying for an Agile Coach can be expensive. A lot of companies feel like they have the talent and knowledge in-house to perform their agile transformation and I have to say, I agree with them to some extent. Agile knowledge is quite prevalent in today's software development environment. This slide deck actually is part of a presentation where I explain how you can avoid hiring a Agile Coach or Coaches especially for long periods of time, but ONLY if you are willing to address some of the most common mistakes people make when they try to do their Agile transformation or any business process redesign without a dedicated, professional trainer or coach. There is a big difference between having a person in your organization that has extensive experience (i.e. agile training, agile coaching, scrum coaching, agile project management training, project management coaching, and change management) versus a person who has the experience and can do it full time for the duration of the business transformation. Most organizations' first mistake is thinking that a transformation is just a part-time endeavor and/or that a committee that meets from time-to-time can direct and react as needed during a transformation. If you get through this slide deck and still feel you can do your transformation without an Agile Coach, you have my Best Wishes, just keep our name and number handy if you want a coach that will check-in from time to time and let you know you are on the right track. If you think you need a full time Agile coach, you can also connect with us at TechExpressoConsulting.com.

1. How to Avoid Hiring
An Agile Coach
Presented By Jacqueline Sanders-Blackman
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Hello! My name is Jacqueline.Nice to meet you!
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3. You Don’t Have to Hire a Coach,
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However, Who In Your Organization Has the Free Time to
Coordinate All of This?
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4. Dedicated Versus Part-Time Coach
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5. Finding Someone With Both the Time, Talent and Passion
In-House (Internally)
• Allows your other managers and team members to stay focused
• Can observe and identify non-Agile habits
• Can look for trends
• Can identify upstream and downstream influences
• Can look top down and bottomup for systemic issues
• Can avoid political bias
• Has an understanding of culture and change management
• Can be methodology agnostic and able to create ad hoc hybrids
• Can help outline a strategic approach as well as determine a tactical roadmap
• Provide audit and feedbacks
• Have a full-time focus on all things process, procedures and protocol
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6. Understanding
What the Coach
Gets
Paid To Do
What you are paying for is …
✓ Depth of Knowledge
✓ Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
✓Coaching, Corporate Culture and Change Management
✓Success with Multiple, Various Clients and Teams
✓Enterprise Big Picture as wells as Team Level Logistics
✓Flexibility
✓Trainer,
✓Mentor, Champion, Facilitator
✓Mediator
✓Understanding
✓Culture, Mindsets, and Industry
✓Progressive and Evolutionary
✓Emotional Intelligence
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7. Determine How to Divide Up
Coaching Tasks Without Making
Them Counterproductive
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• Determine who will observe
• Determine who will advise
• Determine who will evaluateand assess
• Determine who will have the clout to deliver
bad feedback
• Determine who will follow up and hold
teams accountable
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8. The Expectations versus the Level Of Effort
Agile Company-Wide Coach
Agile SDLC-Wide Coach
Scaled Agile Coach
Coach of Coaches
PMO and APMO Coach
Team-Level Coach
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9. You Might Not
Know You Are
On the Wrong
Track Until
You've Spent
Millions of
Dollars. We
Want to Avoid
That!
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10. A Successful
Transformation
Means Balancing
Lean Agile Project
Management and
Change
Management
Expertise.
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11. Your Upfront
Commitment
Determines
Your
Outcome
Like a Project, Your Agile
Transformation Should Have
a Beginning, a Middle and
an Outcome.
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12. You are
Creating High
Performing
Teams.
Make sure you
have a skilled
person guiding
them that
understands
the metrics
and key
indicators.
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13. A Coach
Needs to
Keep an Eye
on Many
Things at the
Same Time
• Best Practices & Playbooks
• “Agile” Processes, Tools, Operating Models
• Metrics, Reporting, RAGs, KPIs, OKRs
• Maturity Metrics & Levels
• Focus on Velocity & Output
• Renting Ideas & Solutions from Others
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14. During the
Newborn and
Toddler Phase
You Cannot Take
Your Eyes Off
The Teams
During the
Formative
Stage of the
Transformation!
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15. How to Do It
Without A
Coach? (Recap)
• Volunteer Change Ambassadors (aka Coaches)
• Establish a A-PMO
• Create and Follow an Agile/Iterative Project
Plan
• Allocate Budget and Allow Time for
Transformation Leaders
• Have a Full Time Program-Project Manager
• Have a Change ManagementLeader
• Expect Your Current Schedule to be reduced
• Check In With a Professional Coach for a
Second Opinion fromtime to time
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