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October 15, 2022

What Is an Agile Coach and How Will It Help My Business?

If you are a business owner looking for ways to improve your team’s productivity and efficiency, you might consider hiring an agile coach. An agile coach can help your team transition to an agile workflow, which can lead to better results.

In this article, we will discuss what agile coaching is and what an agile coach can do for your business. We will also help you decide if hiring an agile coach is the right decision for you.

What Is an Agile Coach?

An agile coach is a professional who helps organizations transition to and adopts an agile way of working. Agile coaches also help individuals and teams within an organization embrace the most effective mindset.

The agile way of working is a set of values and principles that guide how agile teams work. It emphasizes interactions, teamwork, customer collaboration, and continuous improvement.

What Does an Agile Coach Do?

Agile coaches work with organizations, teams, and individuals to facilitate conversations, help decision-making, provide resources and support, and act as a guide on the agile journey.

An agile coach is not a project manager. While they may have experience in that role, their primary focus is helping others learn and grow.

What an Agile Coach Can Do for You

An agile coach can help you in several ways, including:

Assessing your current level of agility and guiding where to go next
Working with you to create an agile transformation plan
Training your team in agile principles and practices
Helping you implement agile processes and tools
Providing resources and support

Organizational Benefits of an Agile Coach

There are many benefits of having an agile coach in your organization. Some of these benefits include the following.

Faster time to market – Speed up your product development cycle to get your products to market faster.

Improved communication – Improve communication within your organization by facilitating conversations and helping people understand each other’s points of view.

Increased transparency – Increase transparency within your organization by helping people understand what and why events happen.

Improved quality – Improve the quality of your products by helping you implement continuous improvement practices.

Reduced risk – Reduce the risk of your projects by helping you identify and address risks early.

Improved customer satisfaction – Improve customer satisfaction by helping you get feedback from customers early and often.

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An agile coach can help your team transition to an agile workflow, which can lead to better results.

How Can an Agile Coach Help a Project Manager?

An agile coach can work with a project manager to help the manager better understand how to implement the agile process within the company. The coach will start by identifying what already works well and what requires improvement.

They can also provide guidance about required resources and where to find them. Additionally, an agile coach gives support during difficult times and helps resolve conflicts that may arise. In short, an agile coach can help a project manager successfully navigate the agile process.

Remove Dependencies

One of the benefits of an agile coach is that they can help you remove dependencies. Dependencies can slow down your team and prevent them from being agile.

Dependencies show up as blockers. They are items that you must complete before work can continue. For example, a dependency might arise when you’re waiting on a report from another team. An agile coach can identify dependencies that impair your organization’s efficiency.

Types of Agile Coaches

When hiring an agile coach, know that different types exist.

Agile Coach

An agile coach is a servant leader who helps an organization, team, or individual adopt and improve their use of agile principles and practices.

Enterprise Agile Coach

An enterprise agile coach won’t work with individuals. Instead, they focus on helping a business organization as a whole become agile. The coach will focus on the culture and processes needed for success.

Agile Team Facilitator

An agile team facilitator helps any type of team with its agile journey. They focus on the team dynamic and help the team work together more effectively.

How Is a Scrum Master Different From an Agile Coach?

The main difference is that an agile coach can work with anyone in the organization, while a scrum master is only responsible for a single team. You can think of an agile coach as the option with more advanced expertise and a higher level of training.

Examples of the Agile Process at Work

Here are two hypothetical examples of how an agile coach can help your organization.

Startup Company

As a small startup works on a new product, the team becomes overwhelmed with the product’s complexity. They don’t know what to do next.

The company decides to hire an agile coach. The coach helps the team understand what they need to do next. They help the team break down the product into smaller pieces. The agile coach also helps the team to prioritize their work. As a result, the team makes progress on the product and releases it to customers.

Struggling Team

A team struggles with conflict. Team members don’t get along and it’s impacting their work.

An agile coach enters the picture to help the team understand what they need to do to resolve the conflict. For example, the team may need workplace mindfulness training. The coach also helps the team members understand each other’s perspectives. As a result, the team ends up working together more effectively.

Hiring an Agile Coach

If you’re thinking about hiring an agile coach, there are a few things to consider. First, ask yourself what type of agile coach you need to bring in. Second, what’s your budget? Make sure you can afford the coach you want to hire. Finally, what type of help do you need? Identifying this will help you hire the correct coach.

Conclusion

What is an agile coach? Now you know that an agile coach can be a valuable asset to your organization. They can help you overcome challenges and achieve success. If you’re considering hiring an agile coach, take the time to interview more than one candidate. With the right coach, you can transform your organization and take it to the next level.