Agile Notes (No. 17)

Every Friday, I send out an email highlighting a concept relating to Agile/Scrum/Continuous Improvement. Lets get to it….

This week, we continue with Notes from the excellent Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins. I love how Lyssa brings her practice of mindfulness and being present into her coaching. Being an agile coach is about listening and communication.

On page176, Adkins writes about the four roles within the role of being an Agile Coach. I think these are perfect. She sums the roles up perfectly as well:

The agile coach helps the team navigate unpredictable waters and adapt as things happen to them, all the while paying close attention to the outer world of the team and the inner world of one’s thoughts and impulses, carefully acting only on those impulses that promote the team’s self-organization.

Being a bulldozer comes easily for me. As I have progressed in my career I have tried to be less of a Type A, dominant, driver and more of a shepherd and servant leader. Quality has always been a central theme in my career. I learned it early. I was fortunate. It is often the first thing to be discarded in favor of speed and hitting deadlines. “We’ll fix it later.”

Being a shepherd and a servant leader are NOT passive roles. They require activity and vigilance. It is EASY to slip into the standard command and control. Do this because I am telling you to do it. That is the team serving you.

Thanks for reading. Please, leave a comment.

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