The Agile Coach: Ensuring Project Success at an Organization Level

As businesses increasingly turn to Agile project management to launch new projects, it is becoming more likely that the teams conducting the projects will apply Agile methodology. However, presenting team members with a slew of documentation and tools required to effectively implement an Agile project, only to leave them to execute the project alone, isn’t the best approach in the spirit of this people-centric methodology.

Instead, companies should provide or identify an Agile Coach that can work closely with the team, collaborating with them from project kick off to completion.

Agile Coach Overview

An Agile Coach is much more than a trainer, says Villanova University instructor Karam Labban in the Leading Agile Teams course, the third of three required courses in Villanova’s Agile Certificate program.

An Agile Coach is a seasoned professional who embraces a mentorship role. They improve the team through knowledge-sharing by offering new perspectives, possibilities and insight from their prior experiences. By developing agile teams and championing an organizational culture that embraces change, an Agile Coach helps pave the path for long-term agile success.

Change can be difficult to navigate and accept, and an Agile Coach must ensure Agile teams have the support, encouragement, knowledge and tools they need to execute the process successfully. An Agile Coach must also help to cultivate an organizational culture that embraces this dynamic atmosphere.

Agile Coach Job Responsibilities

An Agile Coach is responsible for encouraging the team, enabling them to solve problems and cultivating individual growth. Their job responsibilities can be diverse, including:

• Facilitate Agile process knowledge to all team members at the outset of the project
• Train the team on each specific process step throughout the project lifecycle
• Support project planning
• Identify project risks
• Address team member questions
• Identify and diagnose process issues
• Coach Agile Product Owners to drive business value and retain the project vision
• Assist Product Owners in writing user stories
• Mentor Product Owners to make daily decisions to keep the project in motion and empower them to partner with business stakeholders to make more strategic decisions
• Mentor ScrumMasters, who may eventually become coaches themselves
• Support Scrum Masters in meeting preparation, including the pre-planning, planning, daily Scrum, and review stages.
• Instruct managers on the basics of Agile tools, such as Scrum and Kanban
• Coach managers to navigate their role in a dynamic environment through the cultural changes the project may be introducing
• Cultivate an Agile mindset in all team members where problems are embraced as welcome opportunities to adapt

One key thing an Agile Coach is not, Labban advises, is the person responsible for actually solving the problems that can occur in a project.

“You want the team to handle that problem and solve it,” he says. “You can coach them how to find solutions for the problems, how to handle problems and so forth, but it’s not your duty to find the solution.”

There are perhaps two main differences between an Agile ScrumMaster and an Agile Coach. The ScrumMaster is tasked with ensuring the team follows the Scrum process and rules. An Agile Coach’s remit is somewhat wider, with a greater emphasis on the change agenda.

How to Become an Agile Coach

In its article, “What is an Agile Coach,” CIO Magazine suggests that professionals interested in becoming an Agile Coach earn a bachelor’s degree, typically in IT, development, project management or a similar field. In addition to a degree, CIO advises professionals to consider additional Agile training or certification. Earning Agile certification can help equip professionals with new skills, provide legitimacy to their qualifications and boost their competitive edge.

Agile Coaches should have strong interpersonal skills, along with communication skills (verbal and written) to effectively mentor team members and collaborate with organizational stakeholders. They should also be able to empathize without becoming emotional, support team problem-solving and be adept at time management.

It’s important that Agile Coaches possess a strong understanding of Scrum, Kanban and other core Agile concepts. They may also be well-positioned for success by first serving as a project manager, Scrum Master or a related leadership role. This background can help provide them with the experience and first-hand knowledge and skills to coach a team.

According to Labban, the Agile world is about people, not templates, processes and tools. “An Agile Coach brings a lot of value to the team and company by being close to the team, by handling soft skill issues, by working through these issues with the team and teaching them how to handle it. This requires time and somebody who has experience and can stay with the team and follow up. They are more invested than a trainer,” he said.

A career as an Agile Coach affords the opportunity to mentor team members, help projects achieve success, and could provide professional development to move from coaching a team to multi-team to enterprise level as experience and skills progress.