2022 Refresh of ABC Agile Coaching Playbook - How to Be an Agile Coach

2022 Refresh of ABC
Agile Coaching
Playbook - How to Be
and Agile Coach
Presented by Jacqueline Sanders-Blackman
copyright 2022 @ techexpressoconsulting.com

Agile
Bootcamp for Coaches (ABC)
What is an Agile Coach?
What are the key Skill Sets of a Coach?
How is Team Coaching versus One-on-One Different?
How does a Coach Continue to Grow?
What are the Healthy Habits of a Coach?

Coaching
is based on
Continuous
Improvement and
Continuous
Learning!
There is no one
size fits all!

An Agile Coach is a person who is responsible for creating and improving Agile processes within a team or a
company. Some things that an Agile Coach might do are: spread Agile best practices between different teams,
programs, portfolios and groups within the organization. An Agile Coach also integrates Agile teams within non-Agile
teams and processes; and measures results of an Agile transition and transformation.
Coaching during a transformation also means knowing what tools and techniques to use at what time to help
overcome or go around the inevitable objections and resistance that create inertia to adoption of new ways of
working and thinking. Being a coach during a transformation means understanding the organizational, political,
social, and psychological dynamics of change and change management. By using a successful coach, an Agile
implementation should be inspired, energized, and creative. Fun is an essential part of an Agile environment.
The Role of a Coach

What is an Agile Coach?
What are the key Skill Sets of a Coach?
How is Team Coaching versus One-on-One Different?
How does a Coach Continue to Grow?
What are the Healthy Habits of a Coach?
Agile Bootcamp for Coaches (ABC)

What does
an Agile
Coach Do?
EDUCATE (TEACH,
MENTOR)
FACILITATE OBSERVE
MOTIVATE PROVIDE
FEEDBACK
ADVISE, COUNSEL

1.0 - Launching an Agile Initiative and Onboarding an Agile Coach
Launching an Agile
Initiative
Onboarding Agile
Coaches
Coaching Skill Sets
Coaching
Techniques
Coaching Tools
2.0 - Onboarding An Agile Team
Onboarding Agile
Teams
Team Readiness
Impact and Risk of
Onboarding Teams
Not Ready
3.0 - Coaching to Achieve Agile Team Maturity
Forming Storming
Norming
Adjourning
Swarming
Maturity States
4.0 - Coaching to Optimize Planning &
Value Delivery
Agile Planning
Portfolio, Program,
Teams
Pre-Planning
Planning
Post Planning
5.0 - Ongoing Coaching
for Agile Governance
and Guidance
Frequently Asked
Questions
Agile Governance
References and
Resources

Agile coaches have to perform a variety of duties which involve pulling from various disciplines including:
Mentoring, Coaching, Facilitating, Being a Change Agent, Teaching, Advising. Different situations and scenarios
warrant different techniques. A mature coach can assess a situation and adjust accordingly.
● Mentor - generally tries to help mature, help promote growth and to help the person stretch beyond
their current capacity to attain a higher level.
● Coach - generally tries to improve the performance, output and outcome of the person being coached.
● Facilitator - a person who helps a group of people to work together better, understand their common
objectives, and plan how to achieve these objectives, during meetings or discussions. In doing so, the
facilitator remains "neutral," meaning they do not take a particular position in the discussion.
● Change Agent - someone who promotes and enables change to happen within any group or organization.
● Teacher/Educator - a person who provides instruction or education; helps to illustrate right and wrong,
anti-patterns and consequences.
● Advisor - normally a person with deep knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with
cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An advisor's role is to provide strategic guidance and
recommendations to help navigate complex matters.
1.1 Services Included in Coaching

1.2 Soft Skills
• Read the Room
• Emotional Intelligence
• Motivate People
• Cultivate Curiosity
• Inspire People
• Believe that People Can Change
• Believe People Never Finish Growing
• Understand People Learn Through Struggle
• Believe in Good Conflict, Good Chaos, Good Destruction
• Low Tolerance for Excuses
• Willing to Risk Being Wrong

Within the Agile discipline, a coach may be assigned to interact with different types of teams or individuals, which may
warrant specialized knowledge or coaching expertise. Here is the coaching provided by the Agile Office (LACE):
• Coaching the Coaches
• Help onboard new coaches (internal and external)
• Help with professional development of internal coaches
• Help identify maturity and goals for internal coaches
• Providing ongoing and daily feedback on day-to-day coaching opportunities
• Identifying KPIs to measure coaching effectiveness
1.3 Coaching Scenarios

● Coaching Leadership
○ Giving guidance to Business Owners, Domain Owners
○ Giving guidance and feedback to Application Owners
● Coaching the Scrum Master, Squad or Kanban Leads
○ Empowering the Scrum Master to coach the team by promoting Agile best practices on a day-to-day basis
○ Help the Scrum Master identify anti-patterns
○ Giving guidance on how to shepherd the team and deal with team impediments, conflicts and anti-patterns
○ Guide the Scrum Master to use metrics to help provide the team insight into how they are doing
○ Promote continuous improvement, continuous learning
○ Encourage the Scrum Master to proactively work to keep the team healthy and addressing dysfunctional team
behaviors
○ Helping on board new scrum masters
○ Guiding Scrum Master on how to set team boundaries and not exceeding their empowerment privileges
1.3 Coaching Scenarios (continued)

● Coaching the Team
○ Guiding the Scrum Master to help the team obtain their Agile maturity (i.e. adopting, doing, being, owning)
○ Helping establish teams in the Agile framework
○ Help establish and maintain team branding
○ Helping the team through forming, storming, norming and performing
○ Helping identify and address team dysfunction that requires escalation
● Coaching Individual Team Members
○ Help on board new team members
○ Help team members that have disruptive behavior that requires de-escalation
○ Help team members who seek coaching for their roles (ie. BA, Dev, QA) in an Agile environment
● Coaching Shared Services, Shapers and Dependencies
○ Providing guidance to groups or departments that are impacted by or who impact Agile, SAFe or Scrum teams
but that may or may not be Agile in any way
○ Providing insight and awareness of the Agile concepts, their impact and explanation of their rationale and
benefits
○ Providing a point of contact for any concerns or grievances
○ Providing feedback based on scenarios that can cause disruption; Help negotiate resolution
○ Be a liaison and try to foster goodwill between Agile and non-Agile teams
1.3 Coaching Scenarios (continued)

A Coach wears many hats!

● Kanban Coaching means having the mindset, knowledge and tools aligned with a successful Kanban.
○ Kanban System Design
○ Kanban Assessment Framework - Fit for Purpose
○ Service Oriented Organizational Design
○ STATIK Method
○ Work In Progress
○ Flow Management
○ Visualization - Create and Populate the Board
○ Explicit Way-of-Working Policies
○ Feedback and Improve
○ Negotiating Buy-in and Agreeing to a Roll-out Plan
● Scrum
○ Scrum Ceremonies
○ Scrum Teams
○ Scrum Deliverables
○ Scrum KPIs
1.4 Coaching based on Frameworks

● Scaled Agile (Solution Accelerator Program)
○ Portfolio / Leadership
■ Providing guidance to the leadership to help them embrace servant leadership behaviors and to cascade it to their
direct reports
■ Helping them recognize when their directives may be undermining the Agile way of working
■ Helping them recognize opportunities to work and influence with other leadership members that might be
undermining the Agile way of working
■ Helping them find ways within the Agile way of working that helps them get what they need (i.e. status, metrics,
progress reports) through information radiators
■ Help them understand the parameters of when change in initiatives and epics is productive versus
counterproductive
■ Help them trust the program resources (i.e. Program/Product Manager and Product Owner be responsible for the
feature and story level details). Avoid micromanaging the project
1.4 Coaching based on Frameworks (continued)

○ Program
■ Coaching the Program
● Provide guidance to help with synchronization across the program
● Provide guidance and guidelines for pre, post and program increment (PI) planning
● Provide guidance on program boards, information radiators and review meetings
■ Coaching the RTE
● Provide guidance on how to be the liaison between business and technical
● Provide guidance on how to address program level impediments
● Provide guidance on how to support the Program Manager, Product Owner and Scrum Master and respect boundaries
● Helping onboard new RTE’s
● Help establish maturity levels and metrics to measure RTE’s effectiveness

○ Team
■ The Agile coach is primarily focused on coaching the scrum master/kanban lead either by (a) demonstrating
techniques, (b) offering tips and techniques for the scrum master or (c) observing and providing feedback. As
the scrum master matures, the Agile coach goes from high touch to low touch.
■ There are times where the coach may have a conversation that is with the whole team. This should be
coordinated with the scrum master and co-facilitated with the scrum master when necessary. This may be to
initially introduce a tool or technique. The team should be left with actionable steps that allow them to take
the advice, the tool or technique and to take ownership to carry on using this knowledge provided by the
coach on their own.
■ Coaches should be very careful not to be the referee or “tie-breaker” between any disagreements within the
team, the team and the scrum masters or the team/scrum master and the PO. The coach should provide them
with tools on how to problem solve and negotiate.

One-on-One versus Team
One-on-One Coaching Team Coaching
Willing and Able to be Honest and Open Team Charter, Working Agreement
Willing to Share True Emotional State Interpersonal – Team Dynamics
Willing to Reveal Authentic Self and Personality Type Team Culture, Team Norms
Is Open and Willing to be Coached (Coachable) Coordination, Consensus, Collaborative
Ready and Willingness to Take Actions Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing
Willing to Embrace Lasting Change – Extend their
Comfort Zone
Team Soft Skills
Committed to Moving Forward – Maximize Potential Conflict Resolution and Negotiation
Willing and Able to be Honest Team Maturity

Coaching Goals in an Agile Environment
❑ Instill Agile Values and Principles
❑ Start Up / Reset an Agile Team
❑ Coach Team Members Individually
❑ Coach a Team Collectively
❑ Coach a Product Owner
❑ Coach Stakeholders or Leaders Outside the Team
❑ When You Have Helped the Team Navigate Impediments
❑ Can Challenge High Performing Teams
❑ Accept Their Ideas Above Your Own
❑ Mastered Yourself (Self Aware, Avoid Knee Jerk Reactions)
❑ You Model Agile Values and Principles
❑ You Can Navigate Conflicts
❑ Set a Path of Continuous Learning
❑ Help Advance the State of the Art of Agile

Coaching in Various Scenarios
• How do you coach a team in Forming?
• How do you coach a team in Storming?
• How do you coach a team in Norming?
• How do you coach a team in Performing?
• How do you coach a team in High Performing?
• How do you coach a team to be empowered?
• How do you coach a team experiencing resistance?
• How do you coach a team that’s experienced necessary change?
• How do you coach a team that’s experienced an epic fail?
• How do you coach a team that is doing Agile and not being Agile?
• How do you coach a team that is burnt out?
• How do you coach a team that has been successful without Agile? (Trick Question)

Self Care Is Important for Coaches

The Agile Coaches Tool Kit
Frequently Used Tools and Techniques

Honing
Coaching
Skills
The Art of Giving
and Receiving
Feedback
Change
Management
Motivating and
Inspiring Others
Conflict and
Resistance
Management
Professional
Coaching Models
Know Thyself

1.5.0 Coaching Skills
The following are important skills needed by
someone in the role of a coach. The skill set
includes observation, constantly evaluating,
active listening, empathising, questioning (ask
the right question at the right time), providing
feedback, following up, goal setting, evaluate,
curious, provide structure/guidance, create
rapport and networks, receive feedback, able to
address resistance and behaviors, check-ins.
An Agile coach should have a mix of soft skills
(i.e. interpersonal skills) and technique based
hard skills (i.e. aptitude with tools and
techniques).
Soft Skills Hard Skills
Creativity Analytical & Critical Thinking
Persuasion, Patience,
Interpersonal Skills
Data Analysis/Metrics & KPI
Collaboration Technical/Software
Development Lifecycle
Adaptability/Agility Business Workflow/Process
Improvement
Emotional Intelligence Transformation/ Change
Management
Problem-Solving

Honing
Coaching
Skills
The Art of Giving
and Receiving
Feedback
Change
Management
Motivating and
Inspiring Others
Conflict and
Resistance
Management
Agile
Professional
Coaching Models
Know Thyself

●OSKAR - Outcome, Scale, Know-How, Affirm-Action, Review
● GROW - Goal, Reality, Options, Wrap-Up
● FUEL - Frame the Conversation, Understand Current State, Explore the Desired State, Lay Out A
Success Plan
● CLEAR - Contract, Listen, Explore, Action, Review
● STEPPPA - Subject, Target, Emotions, Perception, Plan, Pace, Action
● ACHIEVE - Assess, Creative Alternatives, Hone Goals, Initiate Action, Evaluate Options, Validate,
Encourage Momentum
● SOLVE - State Problem, Observe, List Exceptions/Options, Verify Plan, Execute Plan
Coaching Techniques

● Ceremony Consistency
● Demonstration of Value
● Facilitation and Training Events (Impact Indicators)
● Agile Certification and Professional Development
● Increase in Quality and Delivery
● Increase in Collaboration and Planning (Impact Indicators)
● Development of Agile Roles (RTE, PM, PO, SM)
● Team Building, Bonding and Stability
● Increase in Motivation/Empowerment/Decision Making
● Setting and Achievement of Goals and Commitments (Consistency)
● Application and Value Generated by using Agile Tools
● Problem Solving and Problem Management (Continuous Improvement Events)
● Achieving Cross Functional Teams and Application
Coaching KPIs and Outcomes

• Coaches, just like teams, should strive to continuously improve and mature. The
skill-level used is Master, Journeyman, Apprentice, Novice/Learner.
• Master - Can teach coaching skills across the full list of disciplines listed above,
has a broad range of experience in various environments in all of the disciplines
• Journeyman - Can coach most of the disciplines listed above, is a practitioner of
all of disciplines and may have mastery in certain areas with some supervision
• Apprentice - Someone that is learning and practicing the tools and techniques
across the disciplines under supervision
• Novice/Learner - Someone that is learning the concepts, may have some
certifications but has very limited experience but is engaged in knowledge
sharing and practicing their new skills under supervision
Coaching Maturity

● Miro
● Kahoots
● Asana
● Mentimeter (aka Menti)
● Scaled Agile
● Jamboard
● Google Workspace
(Formerly Google Suites)
Coaching Tools

A Change Management Framework

What Does This Say About This Person?

Discussion: Self Awareness
1. How comfortable are you with Emotional Intelligence?
2. What’s your position on being a Servant Leader?
3. How aggressive is your stance on Agile?
4. How do you naturally respond to conflict?

Got Questions? Email Us For Answers
moreinfo@technologyexpressoconsulting.com

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2022 Refresh of ABC Agile Coaching Playbook - How to Be an Agile Coach

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