How an Agile Coach Can Keep Your Project on Track
To understand the real value of an Agile coach , consider what a good, quality coach in the NFL does for his team.
Although different personalities bring out different coaching strategies and expectations, when you look at the top names in NFL coaching, patterns begin to emerge. Coaches generally have:
- A long history in the game, whether as a player, as staff, or as a coach in college-level play.
- A keen eye for talent – looking past the glam and sparkle of a top name to actually make the hard decisions about whether a certain player is the best in their position to help the team move the ball.
- An intense interest in stats. Not just the basics, but also the deep data that can really help them make important decisions.
- The ability to show up from the first day of off-season practice, through pre-season, to every one of the 16 regular season games, and straight on through the post-season. On the field, in the locker room, on the practice grid, and in the tape room on off days.
- The ability to balance motivation and ego-stroking with making and enforcing the tough decisions.
- The willingness to back their players when officials or the owner make a bad call, but the wherewithal to know when it’s best just to regroup and move on.
Here is the point: successful NFL coaches are both scientists and artists. They manage people and projects with equal skill. And they use their strong backlog of experience to help themselves and the team continue to succeed.
How an Agile coach is similar to an NFL coach.
The same basic patterns apply to a successful Agile coach, who will do wonders in keeping your projects on track being:
- Well-versed in Agile methodologies and able to look back on a role as a scrum master or product owner, and on dozens – perhaps hundreds – of Agile projects for inspiration and education.
- Adept at managing projects and people within the Agile framework. They realize some issues within a team can be resolved with a little soft-skill people management while others may require a more practical project-oriented approach.
- Able to make tough decisions and knowing there is no benefit in delaying or sugarcoating a tough call. They aren’t out to hurt anyone’s feelings or make anyone’s job harder, but the success of the project and the team as a whole outweighs the ego of one team member, and the coach knows when to make that sacrifice.
Perhaps the greatest correlation between an Agile coach and a coach in the NFL is the inspiration and training they give to their team members. In the NFL, this dedication means many players go on to successful coaching jobs after their playing days are over, being able to look back on the examples set by their own coach.
Likewise, Agile team members inspired by a great Agile coach can achieve the goal of being a successful Agile coach themselves.
An Agile coach keeps your Agile projects on track
An Agile coach is especially helpful during Agile transformation because their wealth of experience provides a valuable resource your teams can rely on.
When a project is going well, you can expect your Agile coach to keep an eye on things and optimize the aspects of the project that are succeeding. When a project is starting to falter, that same coach can jump in with helpful suggestions and sometimes make difficult decisions that will reach the heart of the issue and resolve it before too much time, money, or effort is wasted.
If you’d like to learn more about what an Agile coach does, or dive deeper into the training and coaching options cPrime offers , we welcome your questions. A custom Agile workshop may be just what your organization needs to benefit fully from a successful Agile coach.
