Help for a new Agile Coach
Hi
I'm currently a Scrum Master working with a single team, looking to take steps in my career towards becoming an Agile Coach of multiple teams.
I received my first 2 Agile Coaching assignments to help out 2 teams. Basically a couple of different problems they're having, around collaboration and working agreements.
I'm going to observe them for 1 sprint, and my plan is to facilitate a retro at the end of each sprint to target the issues I see. I've been introduced to the teams, and started attending their Daily Scrums today. I'm taking an observation and listening stance to observe how their events are running, and thinking back to to the issues that were brought to me, to see how those things might be targeted.
My question is this: because I've never done it before, I'm not sure if I'm taking the correct approach. Attend, observe, ask a few questions here and there, but not go into any teaching or advising stance. Then design the retrospective for those issues to be raised by the teams and also raise a couple of observations and recommendations there myself based on what I see and hear.
Would anyone have any recommendations on the approach? Is there a checklist perhaps you use for situations like this?
Thanks
What dependencies, if any, exist between the two teams? Are they working on the same product for example?
They're completely separate teams working on different products
One of the first tasks an Agile coach can take is to set up a coaching contract with the team. It does not need to be elaborate. Get the team's permission to attend their ceremonies, ask the team how they would like to receive feedback, and assure them that your relationship and what they share will be confidential.
As a coach you are holding to your client's agenda, not yours. Ask them what pain points they would like you to help them with. What do they hope will change with coaching? What do they hope will be different 6, 9 12 months from now? How will they know they have transformed?
Learn to hold back on giving answers, which isn't easy. Your job as a coach is to ask powerful questions to unlock the answers that are within the team.
Lyssa Adkins has a book on Agile Coaching, and it is highly recommended.
Al the best,
Chris
When you talk about facilitating a retro at the end of each Sprint and designing it for the issues raised by the teams, do you mean that you plan to have one retro for both teams?
If you have two separate teams working on different products, the last thing you want to do is to introduce dependencies such as a shared retrospective.
I think your observational approach is spot on. When you attend the team's Retrospective, seek permission to make your observations known, but try and put such observations in the form of questions to the team.
Be very aware that you may have a long list of "observations" that you would like to address with the team; however, the Retrospective is a time boxed event where you may only be able to broach a few items. Groom your own "backlog" of observations, and identify a couple each Retro that are most-pressing in your mind to make visible to the team. In addition, remember that your observations don't always have to wait until the Retro - look for opportunities where it makes sense to introduce subjects even during the sprint for discussion.
Also, work on pulling this information from the team. See if their "pain points" correspond in any way with your observations. If there is alignment on any of them, they may be ripe for a fruitful discussion on what to possibly try differently.
Now, my point of view is the Retrospective is facilitated by the Scrum Team for the Scrum Team (so yes, including the Scrum Master, as a member of the Scrum Team).
It is not the Scrum Master coaching session.
Remember the Scrum Master facilitates Scrum events as REQUESTED OR NEEDED (typically for a new Scrum Team, not confortable with Retrospective)
As Timothy explained, don't wait for the Retro to practice you coaching position. Ask permission and then ask questions in order to help them change their frame of reference.
My mentor coach said coaching is like grabbing the stones left by you coaches. Among the many stones, choose the nice ones you want to grab.