Reclaiming “Agile Coach”

In the 12-13 years since I first heard the term “Agile Coach”, it has evolved a bunch. Like any title, its details have varied, but as a relatively new role, the variation has been particularly great in stance (coach, mentor, facilitator, trainer, change agent, practitioner, etc.) and scope (individual, team, organization, product, engineering, etc.) Newer, more specialized role definitions have emerged, but none seems to have fully stuck.

There has also been a lot of anger vented at agile coaches. Some has been focused on accusations of profiteering by consultants. Some seems like collateral damage due to hatred of agile practices themselves. Still other criticism is more subtle, disparaging agile coaches as just delivery coaches who can’t connect their work to anything outside team-level execution. And sure, some agile coaches are terrible, just like some of the electricians I’ve hired have been terrible. But then again, I don’t go around saying “electricians are useless”. 

Regardless of the specific criticisms, though, what has always struck me is how few of the critics seem to actually understand the role. The most striking example I can think of was a well-known thought leader from whom I’ve gained many insights saying (to my face, no less!), “I don’t know what an agile coach is, but I think they should be expunged.” The juxtaposition of confessed ignorance and hateful language was quite stunning!

Alongside these other trends and currents, it seems that the role is now much less popular, with fewer open postings for the role than I remember in the past. Perhaps the best illustration of this: as I write this, I am unemployed, laid off by the company that arguably did more than any other to popularize the term “Agile Coach”, and which has now removed the function entirely.

Thinking about all this, as I celebrate my tenth anniversary of working as an agile coach, I want to take the term back. I want to shift the conversation from the negative to the positive. Rather than wasting our time focused on what’s wrong with some agile coaches, wouldn’t it be better to contribute to a discussion of the ideal that agile coaches should be striving for? To that end, this is the definition that I have lived by, and that I’ve seen other world-class agile coaches embody:

As an agile coach, I help people and groups build the capacity they need in order to achieve their desired impacts, while rooted in the values and principles expressed by the Agile Manifesto.

Breaking this down:

• I help people and groups…
  The techniques I use and their intended targets range in focus from individuals and teams up to entire companies. My clients have included entry-level developers, product managers, engineering managers, and senior leaders up to the CEO. This is primarily in software development, but I have also worked with groups in legal, sales, design, and political organizing.
  
• …build the capacity they need…
  Clients come to me because they are stuck trying to achieve something. Rather than simply helping them overcome the challenge, I find ways to help them while also developing their muscles so they can better handle the challenge on their own in the future.
  
• …in order to achieve their desired impacts…
  This seems obvious, but it is worth stressing, given how frequently people fall into the trap of doing stuff without actually making progress toward the reason they were doing that stuff in the first place.
  
• …while rooted in the values and principles expressed by the Agile Manifesto.
  The key point is that the “Agile” in “Agile Coach” doesn’t primarily describe what I coach my clients to do; it describes the foundational beliefs that shape how I coach them. Specifically, it means that I stay connected to the basic truths about humans working together in unpredictable environments that are reflected in the Agile Manifesto.

This definition doesn’t limit me to teaching Scrum, or helping teams navigate conflict, or facilitating cross-functional design workshops, or coaching product managers on developing strategy, or helping leaders design organizations to meet their needs, or working to shape cultural forces that connect it all. Neither does it say I will do all of these at any given time. Rather, it orients my energy toward the bottom line: what the client is really trying to accomplish and how they need to grow in order to get there, without losing my grip on what my experience of helping people develop products has shown me to be true.

It’s been deeply fulfilling work, and I hope that I have the privilege of doing it again. I’m curious to see where things will stand in another ten years.