Tortillis Group has been assisting organizations adopt an agile approach and we practice the best in class teachings including training, coaching and mentoring.

1. Agile Training
Coaching can take many forms, but we must remember the primary goal is to improve the
performance of the team towards delivery of a high-value, high-quality product. Our
approach differs from many others, as we firmly believe in the “Shu – Ha – Ri” approach, as
described below by Martin Fowler:
The idea is that a person passes through three stages of gaining knowledge:
Shu: In this beginning stage the student follows the teachings of one master precisely. He
concentrates on how to do the task, without worrying too much about the underlying theory.
If there are multiple variations on how to do the task, he concentrates on just the one way his
master teaches him.
Ha: At this point the student begins to branch out. With the basic practices working he now
starts to learn the underlying principles and theory behind the technique. He also starts
learning from other masters and integrates that learning into his practice.
Ri: Now the student isn’t learning from other people, but from his own practice. He creates
his own approaches and adapts what he’s learned to his own particular circumstances.
It is our duty to help you deliver the product, but it is also our duty to help your people learn
how to deliver products on their own, using their innate skills and experience. While we aim
to be a long-term partner, we do not aim to be the key resource on a single project – your own
people should play that role.
Business Agility Review (BAR)
This is a starting-point for those organizations that have been using an agile approach for a
while, but somehow are “stuck”, not seeing any continuing benefits. This review of your
agile approach, practices, and effectiveness take 5 days, and results in a report of things to
improve, and actions to take to implement these improvements You can read more about this
here.
Team coaching
When we coach teams in their delivery efforts, we focus on a number of issues. The
following are a selection of the most important of these issues, but there are many, more
subtle, people- and organization-focused issues to be addressed (for example, team
communication, leadership style, etc.)
Product Focus
A fast “project launch” to review the objectives of the project under development, and
determine the best value-focused delivery strategy. Note that this is a very brief review –
typically 1 to 2 days depending upon the complexity of the project – to ensure the team
knows what it is delivering, and has the appropriate focus on value, quality, and planning
approach.

2. Team practices
Introduce or strengthen the practices being used by the development team, to ensure effective
collaboration and delivery of new products. Ensure a whole-team approach is taken, not sub-optimizing
within each functional team (analysts / developers / testers)
Leadership coaching
Ensure the organizations’ leaders are focused on “the right things”, measuring value delivery
(not “bums in seats”). Introduce adaptive leadership techniques into the organization