Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition

The subtitle of this book says it is for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers, however, its guidance and advice extend to anyone associated with an agile (Scrum) team. It will also certainly help team members better understand their relationship to the work ScrumMasters, agile coaches, and project managers do for the team. And, beyond this, the book can be valuable to anyone working in a coaching capacity with any group of people, expanding the books application beyond agile-based efforts.

Scott Duncan, Agile Coach

Lyssa explains brilliantly how skills from professional coaching can be applied to coaching agile software development teams. What I love about this book is how Lyssa brings practical advice to life by relating it to everyday experiences we all recognize. An essential guide for every agile managers bookshelf.

Rachel Davies, author of Agile Coaching

As I read this book I could actually hear Lyssas voice, guiding me and sparking precious a-ha moments. This truly is the next best thing to having an experienced and wise coach sitting by your side, helping you be the best coach you can be for your team.

Kris Blake, agile coach

Lyssa Adkins presents agile coaching in a gentle style with firm underpinnings. She resolves the paradox of how coaching can help a team to self-organize, and shows how a nurturing environment can push teams to perform better than ever.

Bill Wake, Industrial Logic, Inc.

I love Lyssas three qualities of an agile coachloving, compassionate, uncompromisingsweet. Every chapter offers a compelling blend of philosophy and action, framework and freedom, approach and avoidance, as any agile book should. Coaching Agile Teams is a good candidate to become dog-eared on my desktop rather than looking good on my bookshelf. The depth and quality of expertise that Lyssa sought, sampled, and sounded out along her own coaching journey have been synthesized in her own voice of experience.

Christopher Avery, Responsibility Process mentor, www.LeadershipGift.com

In my experience with agile projects, the agile coach is one of the most important roles to get right. Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins gives the details and practical insights for what it takes to be a great agile coach.

Dave Hendricksen, software architect, Thomson-Reuters

I remember the first time I met Lyssa at a Scrum gathering in Orlando, and realized very quickly how inspirational she would become in the agile community. This book encapsulates her thoughts and ideas into a fantastic literary work that, I believe, fills a void in our community. We knew the role of a coach was needed, but for a long time we were not sure what that role actually was. We struggled as a community to explain what to do, when to do it, and what ...

Lyssa Adkins came to agile as a project leader with over fifteen years' project management success. Even with all that experience, nothing prepared her for the power and simplicity of Agile done well. She has coached many agile teams and been a master coach to many apprentice coaches over the past few years. Coaching coaches one-on-one and in small groups, she enjoys a front-row seat as remarkable agile coaches emerge and go on to entice the very best from the teams they coach. Lyssa's agile experience, along with her professional coaching and training abilities, gives her the perspective needed to guide teams and agile leaders to harness agile as the competitive advantage weapon it was meant to be. She knows the transformation path is rocky. As a large-scale program manager and director of project management offices turned agile coach and trainer, she has lived it herself. This makes her uniquely able to help others change their existing world to the agile world. Lyssa holds triple certifications: Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Six Sigma Green Belt (SSGB). She is also a trained co-active coach. For more information, visit www.coachingagileteams.com.

Foreword by Mike Cohn          xiii

Foreword by Jim Highsmith          xv

Acknowledgments           xvii

Introduction          xix

About the Author          xxv

Why Agile Coaching Matters   4

The Agile Coaching Context   5

Lets Get Our Language Straight   8

Move Toward Agile Coaching   9

An Agile Coach Emerges   15

Native Wiring   16

Make Agile Coaching Your Personal Expression   18

A Refresher   18

Additional Resources   19

Chapter 2: Expect High Performance         21

Set the Expectation   22

Introduce a Metaphor for High Performance   23

The Destination Never Comes   29

A Refresher   30

Additional Resources   30

References   31

Chapter 3: Master Yourself        33

Start with Self-Awareness   35

Recover from Command-and-Control-ism   40

Prepare for the Day Ahead   43

Practice in the Moment   46

Be a Model for Them   53

Support Yourself   53

Always Work on Yourself   54

A Refresher   55

Additional Resources   55

References   56

Chapter 4: Let Your Style Change          59

Agile Team Stages   60

Agile Coach Styles   64

Feel Free to Let Your Style Change   67

A Refresher   70

Additional Resources   70

References   70

What Is Agile Coaching?   76

What Are We Coaching For?   77

Coaching at Two Levels   78

Coaching People One-on-One   83

Coaching Product Owners   97

Coaching Agile Coaches   107

Coaching Agile Managers   109

A Refresher   114

Additional Resources   114

References   115

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