Agile42 Agile Coaching Guide

 

Copyright © 2017, agile42 International GmbH agile42 International GmbH Grünberger Str. 54, 10245 Berlin, Germany  Tel: +49 30 200 539 58  Web:  W eb: www ww w.agile42.com Email: [email protected] Edition: first edition, 2017-07-31 ISBN 978-3-96243-000-9 (printed, A5) ISBN 978-3-96243-005-4 (printed, 5.5” x 8.5”) ISBN 978-3-96243-001-6 (ePub) ISBN 978-3-96243-002-3 (Kindle) ISBN 978-3-96243-003-0 (online PDF) ISBN 978-3-96243-004-7 (promotional excerpt, 5.5” x 8.5”)

This book is distri This distribut buted ed under under the Cr Creat eative ive Commo Commons ns Attrib Attributi ution, on, Non-C Non-Comm ommer ercia cial, l, No Derivatives 4.0 license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) available at   https://creativ https://creativecommons.org/ ecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.. licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The license allows you to download, copy and share this material on the condition that  you (a) give appropriate credits, (b) don’ don’t change the material in any way way,, and (c) ( c) don’ don’tt use it commercially commercially.. This summary is included for convenience convenience only and does not replace the full license.

 

Contents

1

Introduction

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What is agile coaching? 2.1 Other kinds of coaching . 2.2 The agile coaching stances 2.3 When not to coach . . . . . 2.4 Try this . . . . . . . . . . .

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Coaching Fundamentals 3.1 Code of conduct for a syste stemic coach . 3.2 The minds dset et be behi hin nd sy syst stem emic ic co coac ach hin ing g 3.3 Curiosity and keywords . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Listening and responding . . . . . . . . 3.5 Stru ruc ctu turre for a coaching conversation . 3.6 Powerful questions . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Coaching c co onversations w wiith a tte eam

4.1 4.2 4.3 5

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Bridging questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The 5D model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Try this . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Team dynamics 5.1 Synergy in teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5. 5.2 2 Tea eam m de deve velo lopm pmen entt an and d pe perf rfor orma manc nce e mo mode dels ls . 5.3 Challenges in forming teams . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 Try this . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coaching your team

Contents

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What is built into your framework? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

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Daily standup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Refinement and planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Retrospectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Structured coaching 7.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Make observations . . . . 7.3 Formulate a hypothesis . . 7.4 Identify a goal . . . . . . . 7.5 Define metrics . . . . . . . 7.6 Choose the coaching tools 7.7 Build a coaching structure 7.8 Follow up . . . . . . . . . . 7.9 Case studies for TCF . . . .

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Challenges 8.1 The lizard brain . . . . . . . . 8.2 SCARF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Influencing behavior . . . . . 8.4 Building your case on metrics 8.5 Safe-to-fail experiments . . . 8.6 Try this . . . . . . . . . . . . .

References

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115 1 11 15 1 12 20 1 12 25 1 12 26 1 12 27 129 131

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Chapter 1

Introduction

 Agile coaching is at heart not such a complicated thing. It is the art of  observing, listening, forming an understanding and validating it, then  working with the coachee to come up with and enact solutions. By  coaching and observing others coach, you build up your own collection of patterns and tools. tools. Wher Where e a junio juniorr coach will have to rely on writte written n material and the support of others, an experienced coach can quickly  form and validate hypotheses and pick the right tools from the toolbox. But starting starting out as a new agile coach is not so easy easy.. Wher Where e do you go? How do you you ge gett st star arte ted? d? Wit ith h th this is bo book ok we wa want nted ed to crea create te an intr introd oduc uc-tory reference for new agile coaches as well as experienced ScrumMasters.. It conta ters contains ins much of the theory that we teach our new collea colleagues gues at agile42 and hopefully a lot of insights for new coaches. The intention  was to provide a secondary source for what we teach as a lasting memory to hand out to clients and students. We decided to publish it so that even more people can enjoy the results.  What you are reading rright ight now is the book we wish we had had when  we started out as agile coaches. Despite the title this book is not about agility  about  agility  as   as such. We will assume thatt the rea tha reader der has a wor workin king g kno knowle wledge dge of all thin things gs agile agile.. We may  touch on the agile principles and lean thinking in this book, but we are nott goin no going g to expl explai ain n e.g. .g. wh why y it ma make kess se sens nse e to sl slic ice e larg large e wo work rk item itemss in into to smaller independent pieces, or how to choose between synchronized and unsynchron unsynchronized ized rele releases ases.. Ther There e are plent plenty y of good books aroun around d for those purposes. Introduction

 

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 We  W e have tried to introduce the topics sequentially sequentially,, so that later chapters build buil d on to top p of prev previo ious us on ones es.. Th The e bo book ok th ther eref efor ore e wa wand nder erss betw betwee een n di difffe fere rent nt to topi pics cs,, al alth thou ough gh th ther ere e is a clea clearr pa path th from from liste listeni ning ng to oneone-on on-o -one ne coaching and onward to team coaching and how to empirically influence the behavior behavior of a team. We do rec recomme ommend nd that you at least skim the preceding chapters before jumping into later chapters. Throughout the book we will use the term  agile coach , but don’t take that too literally. literally. It’s It’s an umbrella term that covers everyone interested in coaching agile teams and small organizations. We don don’’t expect that every reader wants to become an agile coach. Rather we have designed and an d writt ritte en th this isdevelopment bo boo ok to be use sefu full to a la larrand ge nsystem um umb ber othinkers. f pe peop ople le So includ clwhenudiing  ScrumMasters, managers ever you see “agile coach”, please substitute it with whatever title you feel is appropriate for you. That sai That said, d, som some e parts of thi thiss book ar are e wri written tten for pe peopl ople e who see a lot lot of  different teams, either inside one organization or across many companies. ScrumMasters, development managers and internal agile coaches typi typica call lly y wo work rk with with th the e sa same me te team amss ye year ar afte afterr ye year ar.. Ag Agil ile e co coac ache hes, s, on th the e other hand, are expected to train and coach teams from scratch until they become self-sufficient in Scrum, which usually takes 2–3 months, befo be fore re mo movi ving ng on to othe otherr team teams. s. Over Over ti time me a co cons nsul ulti ting ng agil agile e co coac ach h wi will ll find herself working with many different teams in many different contexts and with many differen differentt goals goals.. We have there therefore fore inclu included ded some material mater ial releva relevant nt to worki working ng with new teams. Ther There e are chapters and sections in this book dedicated to team building models, or what you can do to help your teams perform better.  At this point you may be wondering who these guys behind the book  really rea lly are. We are agile coaches workin working g at what we believe is the most awesome agile coaching company, agile42. Since this book was written by a team, we have chosen chosen not to stand out indiv individual idually ly.. Ins Instead, tead, we have been writing this book as if it were software developed by a team. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

This means that we started by formulating a strategic goal for why this book should should be brou brought ght to life. We drew up a produ product ct vision from the user us er pers perspe pect ctiv ive; e; we na name med d an and d de desc scrib ribed ed perso persona nass an and d crea create ted d a st story  ory  map.. By plann map planning ing tasks and visua visualizin lizing g them on a kanban kanban board board,, we  wrote the book through an iterative and incremen incremental tal process. We focused on first developing a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) through a number of Minimal Marketable Features (MMF). What you see here is the MVP. MVP. For the software geeks among you, tthe he book was entirely written using markdown files in a git repository with a continuous integration build using pandoc to create various formats of the book. Becoming an agile coach is a journ Becoming journey ey that has no end. And that’ that’ss why  the name of this book is “The Hitchhiker’ Hitchhiker’ss Guide to Agile Coaching Coaching.” .”

Introduction

 

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Chapter 2

 What is agile coaching?

 Agile coaching is the art of helping people see reality using an agile and lean perspective and change their paradigms, habits and roles accordingly ing ly.. Agi Agile le coa coachi ching ng has two v very ery di diffe ffere rent nt sid sides es — ag agili ility ty an and d coachi coaching  ng  — and you will need to know a bit of both. Being good or skilled in only  one of these two domains is not sufficient.  Agile is an umbrella term for all kinds of methods and practices that are base ba sed d on th the e va valu lues es and and pr prin inci cipl ples es defin defined ed in the the Agile Manifesto (“Agile Manifesto (“Agile Manifest Man ifesto o,” 2001 2001). ). At presen presentt the most widely used agile methods are Scrum, Kanban and XP XP.. When we refer to “agile agile””, we usually mean any  and all of the agile methods, but we will sometimes specifically address one of the agile methods. In our experience, most agile coaches typically have a background as ScrumM Scr umMast asters ers,, pro projec jectt man manage agers, rs, gen gener eral al man manage agers, rs, pro proces cesss spe specia cialis lists ts or quality manager managers. orking orkingwork with better diff differen erent teams, , they have noticed that they can help s. theWteams byt teams introducing or strengthening enin g the team team’’s agile thinking. thinking. At some point, they may start calling  themse the mselve lvess agi agile le coa coache ches, s, or the they y kee keep p the their ir Scru ScrumM mMast aster er titl title. e. Thr Throug ough h failures and successes, they have slowly learned how to approach and  work with different teams. They have started out as new agile coaches  with reasonably good agile knowled knowledge, ge, but do not know enough about coaching. If you belong to this group, this book is for you.  Agile thinking and agile practices are easier to learn than coaching skills. There are agile books, Scrum training, workshops, conferences, communities and a lot more available, however for many people the main problem is, in fact, the unlearning of old thinking patterns.

What is agile coaching?

 

 

Coaching is also a skill that you can pick up and improve on, although perhaps not as easily as agile knowl perhaps knowledge edge.. This is because coach coaching ing is a  way of acting, almost a personal habit, and habits are notoriously difficult to change. In order to become a good coach you must learn to observe and listen, to keep your own biases in control, to not jump to premature conclusions clusi ons and to comm communic unicate ate well. This natur naturally ally affect affectss how you are aware of yourself, how you react to other people and how others perceive you. Many people are unwilling to even start this journey. For example, people who enjoy the feeling of power that comes from bossing  people around, do not necessarily want to give it up.  Agile coaching is not magical handwaving. It is a soft but very very structured tur ed ski skill. ll. We don don’’t wan wantt to en encou courag rage e the perce percepti ption on tha thatt an agi agile le coac co ach h ca can n ju just st wa walk lk in into to an orga organi niza zati tion on,, ta talk lk to peop people le,, ru run n so some me wo work rk-shops, sho ps, sla slap p sti sticki ckies es on flip flipcha charts rts and turn everyon everyone e sup super er-ag -agile ile.. In Inste stead, ad,  we see agile coaching as structured and long-term work that stretches over months, sometimes years. The di The diff ffer eren ence ce be betw twee een n a ne newl wly y st star arte ted d ag agil ile e co coac ach h an and d an expe expert rt co coac ach h is simp simply ly th that at th the e ex expe pert rt kn kno ows mo more re st struc ructu ture ress by heart heart an and d reme rememb mber erss more ore to too ols ls;; an and d ha hass more ore ex expe peri rien ence ce to help help her her cho hoo ose th the e rig right to tool ol or structure for the job. Where an experienced coach can pick and choose from fro m me memory mory,, ne new w coa coache chess may need need to cons consult ult list lists, s, b book ookss or me mento ntors rs and are perhaps more likely to occasionally choose the wrong tool for the job. job. We hope that this book will give you the tools and structures structures  you need to become an effective agile coach.  We would encourage you to think of coaching as an additional set of   We tools in your leadership toolbox. Coaching is something you can try out and adopt gradually, tool by tool and technique by technique; and it is very likely that you will find the skills and tools in this book useful in many different situations. For example, the skill of listening will be very 

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

convenient when interacting with customers and colleagues, as well as  your mother-in-law. mother-in-law.

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Other kinds of coaching

In this chapter we would like to position agile coaching by comparing  it to two other well-known coaching domains:  systemic coaching  and  and sports spo rts coa coachi ching  ng . If you haven’t heard about systemic coaching before, you can think of  it as the classica classicall therapy or counse counseling ling appro approach. ach. Ima Imagine gine a patient sitt sittin ing g in a co comf mfort ortab able le loun lounge gerr an and d a ca calm lm,, ne neut utra rall lly y dr dres esse sed d co coun unse selo lorr in a hardback chair with a notepad in her hand, asking “And how can I help you today?”  A systemic coach works works with   with   the system system.. The informat information, ion, interp interpreretations, goals and actions all come from the coachee and the systemic coach merely facilitates discovery through discussion. She asks neutral, open-ended questions related to keywords that pop up in the discussion.. Fo sion Forr example “Tell “Tell me more about your time there?” or “Ho “How w did the others react to this piece of news?”  Agile coaching borrows a lot from systemic coaching. Ho However wever,, where the syst systemi emic c coa coach ch is no non-d n-dir irect ecting ing,, the agi agile le coa coach ch usu usuall ally y has an agenda age nda of making making the team mor more e agi agile le.. Bot Both h system systemic ic coac coaches hes and agile coaches usually have a sponsor and have been hired to achieve a goal. goa l. The diff differ eren ence ce is tha thatt sys system temic ic coach coaches es try not to impose impose thei theirr own ow n thoughts and ideas in the discussions. discussions. Fo Forr an agile coac coach, h, part of  the goal is to act as a role model, infusing the organization with agile thinking and practices.

What is agile coaching?

 

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Sports Coach

Agile Coach

Sets goals and targets for the team

Supports the team,  Accepts any result provides benchmarks May disc scu uss roles  Accepts the team as  with manager it is Helps team members Helps team members find ways to impro improve ve find ways to improve improve

Defines th the e te tea am Lays off  non-performing  team members Tells the team what to do in a given situation

Has a somewhat linear understanding  of cause and effect  V  Very ery transparent emotions

Systemic Coach

Outside the selected

Helps the team

method, helps thethe team understand approach in a given situation Uses lean and agile thinking to understand cause and effects Moderate Moder ate display of  emotions

explore scenarios and choose which one to pursue Has a circular understanding of  cause and effect  Aspires to be neutral

 An agile coach also works in quite similar ways to a sports coach.  Whereas professional athletes know a lot about their sports and their main tool (the human body), many professional software developers are lacking in theoretical knowledge as well as practical experience. The barriers of entry into software development are very low and many  software developers never receive sufficient formal education in their craft. At the same time, the pressure to release new features means that best be st prac practi tice cess are are fo forg rgot otte ten n an and d pe peop ople le co coll llec ectt th the e wr wron ong g kind kindss of  experience. Exac Ex acer erba bati ting ng the the issu issue, e, ev every eryon one e wa want ntss to portr portray ay th them emse selv lves es as ex expe perts rts

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

in order to keep their jobs. The more senior developers who could perhaps ha ps ac actt as me ment ntor orss an and d ro role le mo mode dels ls ar are e all all ove verw rwor orke ked, d, pa part rtic icip ipat atin ing g in dozens of critical projects and workgroups simultaneously. This means that agile coaches need to tread carefully when nurturing both basic software practices, as well as agile project/product management and team building practices. Every coach should always have a   clear goal . Unf nfor ortu tuna nate tely ly,, ag agil ile e coaches are often called in to do something vague or implicit, such as “we’ve been told to deploy Scrum” or “my team isn’t meeting their spri sp rint nt go goal alss” or “co coul uld d yo you u ju just st look look at th this is team team an and d sa say y wh what at’’s  wrong?” Part make of your job is therefore observe or quickly assess the organization, a diagnosis or drawtoup some hypotheses and agree on the goal with your sponsor. sponsor. With Without out an understanding understanding of what the organization wants and needs, it is difficult to achieve results. To do this, you will need tto o allocate “access time” with the organization. In so some me ca case ses, s, th this is mi migh ghtt me mean an a co conc ncert erted ed,, str struc uctu ture red d as asse sess ssme ment nt ca carrried out in a very short time. Othe Otherr times, it may be more info informal rmal and unstructured — to the extreme point of hanging around in the coffee room ro om tryin trying g to me meet et an and d in inte terv rvie iew w as ma many ny diff differ eren entt pe peop ople le as po poss ssib ible le..

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The agile coaching stances

Interestingly enough, an agile coach needs to be able to do many differentt th en thin ings gs th that at are are not   co coac achi hing ng.. On One e of the the ba basi sic c sk skil ills ls of agil agile e co coac achi hing  ng  is to understand when to coach and when not to coach and to know   what else you might do instead. For example, you may notice that a team doesn’t understand why they  shou sh ould ld spli splitt wo work rk into into sm smal alll in inde depe pend nden entt task tasks. s. If yo you u we were re on only ly allo allowe wed d to coach, you would need to ask the right questions in sequence, patiently guiding them forward step by step until they connect the dots, understand the implications and come up with the right methods. This

What is agile coaching?

 

 

 would require almost inhuman leaps of logic and induction from the team, as well as almos almostt inhuman coa coachin ching g skills from you. It would be more ore ef effe fec ctiv tive to just just st step ep out of th the e co coac achi hin ng ro role le an and d spe spend a litt little le momoment as a teacher teacher.. Coaching and teaching are two different “modes of operation” that we call coaching call  coaching stances . There are five stances in total (see fig. 2.1) and we  will explore them in this section. You should always be aware of which coaching coach ing stance you are takin taking g at any give given n moment. You will chang change e stances regularly as the situation dictates and you will need to take a different approach in each stance. Coaching   — For the mo most st part, you should operate as a coach and stay  in the base stance of coaching. coaching. This is wher where e you listen and observe how the team works; challenge and question their assumptions and status quo; and facilitate and lead the activities.

The coaching coaching stance is very close to system systemic ic coachin coaching g as we described in the beginning of this chapter (in sec. 2.1). It is the most “neutral”, in that the coach tries to be unbiased and not push her own id idea eass on th the e team team.. In or orde derr to avoi avoid d bi bias asin ing g th the e team team th that at yo you u are ar e co coac achi hing ng,, yo you u sh shou ould ld try to st step ep back back in into to the the co coac achi hing ng st stan ance ce as soon as the situation allows.

Teaching   — The teach teaching ing stance that we ment mentione ioned d in the beginn beginning  ing  of this section is one that you will find yourself using quite a lot. In contrast to systemic coaches and to some extent also sports coaches, agile coaches need to be able to educate and teach people.

In this context, “teaching” means the ability to detect when the group gro up you ar are e coa coachi ching ng is lac lackin king g kno knowle wledge dge on som some e top topic, ic, explain the concepts in a clear way, answer questions related to

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Figure 2.1: The coaching stances

those concepts, and verify that the group has indeed acquired the new ne w kn kno wl wled edge ge.. It g,do does es rmative no nott ne nece ssaril rily y me mean an pl plan anni ng and carryin carrying goout engagin engaging, info informati vecessa multi-day course courses. s. ning Althou Although gh many agile coaches also work as agile trainers and vice versa, the skillset required for giving multi-day courses is quite different.  As mentioned, you should find your way back from the teaching  stance stanc e to the coachi coaching ng stance as soon as possible possible.. Askin Asking g questions like “How do you think this new knowledge will affect your future actions?” or “With the knowledge I just provided you, what  will in your perspective be the best thing to do now?” can help  you return to coaching. It also ssignals ignals to tthe he coachee that you are giving the responsibility back to her and she needs to make wise decisions with the new knowledge in mind.

What is agile coaching?

 

 

Mentoring   — This is the process of transferring learnings from the mentor men tor to the me mento ntore red d per person son,, the the   mentee . Th The e me ment ntor orin ing  g  stance is useful when the mentee has knowledge to some extent, but lacks experience in the topic. The transfer of experience often happens happe ns throug through h discussio discussions, ns, stories, anecdote anecdotess and advice. It can also happen through hands-on demonstrations or through collaboration and pair work, in which case one could talk about apprenticeship .1

Mentoring is often confused with coaching, possibly because a good go od me ment ntor or mu must st al also so be a go good od li list sten ener er an and d a go good od co coac ach. h. Man any  y  mentoring programs contain aspects of me career or lifeag coaching. Simi Simila larl rly y, co coac ache hess mu must st so some meti time mess ac actt as ment ntor ors. s. An agil ile e co coac ach h  would most commonly mentor a junior agile coach or a ScrumMaster.  Y  Your our mentee is likely to find it convenient to have a mentor and she will encourage you to stay in that stance. Again, remember to return retu rn to the coachi coaching ng role as soon as possib possible. le. Fo Forr that, you can st stat ate e so some meth thin ing g like like “T “Tha hatt wa wass th the e st stor ory y I wa want nted ed to tell tell yo you. u. What What kind of thoughts did it give you?” or “Now that we have done this together,, let me see you do it on your own. together own.””

“I refu fus se to answer that question on the grou round nds s th that at I do don n’t kn kno ow th the e an ans swer er.” .” — Do Doug ugla las s Ada dams ms  Advising   — Being an agile coach also includ includes es the capabilit capability y of giving  giving  advice advic e to a clien clientt when neces necessary sary.. This includ includes es giving option options, s, creat cr eatin ing g ins insigh ights ts and evalu evaluati ating ng the their ir exp experi erienc ences es.. If you have opinions on a topic, you will also need to justify and motivate. 1 See  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentorship   and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

 Apprenticeship  Apprentice ship

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

 You  You should be very careful when giving advice, as coaching and advising advis ing are confli conflictin cting g activities. activities. As a coac coach h you are suppo supposed sed to be neutral and unbiased, but as an adviser you are expected to provide pro vide opinions opinions and sugge suggestion stions. s. You cannot do both at once once.. Thi hiss is one of th the e reas ason onss wh why y you ar are e most ost like likely ly bet ette terr of offf ad ado optpting one of the other stances rather than advising.  Another reason is that people who ask for advice are not always looking for an honest answer. It happens that people just want to vent their frustration or would like to know whether they can use  you for support when driving their own agenda. The third reason is that when you give advice or recom re commen mendat dation ions, s, you mus mustt als also o tak take e re respo sponsi nsibil bility ity for tha thatt advice. advic e. Som Sometim etimes es you should not have any say in the matter or  you may have conflicting interests. Sometimes a simple question requi re quire ress a com comple plexx an answe swerr (or sev severa erall com comple plexx answe answers) rs) and some so meti time mess th the e cl clie ient nt ta take kess yo your ur an answ swer er an and d impl implem emen ents ts it  without understanding the implications.  We commonly find ourselves answering “it depends  We depends”” and then perhaps explaining the relevant theory (training), helping them find their own answer (coaching) or providing examples that are hopefu hop efully lly illum illumina inatin ting g (me (mento ntorin ring). g). Onl Only y occ occasi asion onall ally y do we actually give straight-out answers (advising) and it almost never happens that we carry out the work for them (consulting). Even when giving advice, you should always leave the responsibility bil ity to the coac coachee hee.. On One e trick to make that hap happen pen is to form  your suggestions as hypotheses: “C “Could ould it be a possibility for you to. . . ?”, ?”, or provi provide de several optio options: ns: “Anoth Another er approach approach that could be worth worth explo explorin ring g is . . . ” Thi Thiss sends sends a sig signal nal to the co coach achee ee that it is her call to come up with the solution, since she is the one that kno kn ows th the e co cont ntex extt best. best. It al also so in indi dica cate tess th that at yo you u ar are e no now w st step eppi ping  ng  back to the coaching stance. When you push your solution onto

What is agile coaching?

 

 

someone else, there is a risk that the other person will not be fully  committed to achieve the wanted result. Role Ro le mod modeli eling  ng   — As agile coaches we constan constantly tly need to demonstrate integrity integ rity.. Some of the key pillar pillarss in your care career er as an agile coach are transparency, honesty, commitment to help people grow and maxi ma ximi mizi zing ng the the be bene nefit fitss fo forr yo your ur cl clie ient nts. s. Ro Role le mo mode deli ling ng is pri prima marrily about living the agile and lean values.

 An agile coach cannot simply say one thing and then do somethin th ing g el else se.. For ex exam ampl ple, e, sta stati ting ng that that me meet etin ings gs alwa always ys st start art on time time and then but arriving late up yourself, or asking the ScrumMaster to be prepared showing unprepared for your own engagements. Role modeling is different from contracting  from contracting   or or consulting   consulting . A contractor or consultant is hired to do a job on behalf of the client. The difference is that role modeling is a form of on-the-job training for the organization’s own ScrumMasters. The role model also only assumes responsibility on a limited level and for a limited time time e.g. .g. en ensu suri ring ng that that a ret etro rosp spec ecti tive ve is we well ll faci facili lita tate ted d or th that at th the e team is paying attention to the resulting actions.  As a role model you could for example facilitate a couple of  spri sp rint nts, s, gr grad adua uall lly y ha hand ndin ing g ove verr to the the or orga gani niza zati tion on’’s own ScrumMasters which falls nicely within the scope of almost any  coaching engagement. This is in sharp contrast to sports coaches  who typically do not go out on the field to score goals during a match, and to systemic coaches who can’t change themselves on behalf of their clients. If your your coa coachi ching ng eng engage ageme ment nt exp explic licitl itly y in inclu cludes des con contra tracti cting  ng  or co cons nsul ulti ting ng,, we wo woul uld d ta talk lk abou aboutt   embedded embedded coach coaching  ing . An embedded agile coach is expected to work full time as a team member or ScrumMaster for a period of months or years and simultaneo simul taneously usly roll out agile practic practices es or prom promote ote agile agile think thinking  ing 

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in the team and surroun surrounding ding orga organizat nization. ion. While this may seem 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

like a great idea — two for the price of soseveral to speak — we for try  to avoid this mode of engagement as one, it has pitfalls both the coach and the client organization.  As the coach is now inside the organization, some of her credibilit ity y and and leve levera rage ge wi will ll be lost lost wi with thin in mont months hs and and mana manage gers rs wi will ll st star artt bossing her around. Much of the coaching effort is spent on running the mechanics of the chosen agile method and the coaching  progress prog ress is slowe slowerr than it could be. The organ organizati ization on also easily  beco be come mess de depe pend nden entt on th the e co coac ach, h, so th that at pr prog ogre ress ss st stag agna nate tess afte afterr the coach eventually leaves the building. Embedded coaching is also problematic for the coach herself.  Working  W orking with two different goals seldom leads to satisfactory  resul re sults, ts, esp especi eciall ally y if the goa goals ls are confli conflicti cting. ng. The There re is on only ly so much time. . . should I ru run n a retrospective or writ rite more software? softw are? Furth Furthermor ermore, e, person personal al prof profession essional al deve developme lopment nt can come com e to a sta stands ndstil till. l. Co Compa mpare red d to a dedic dedicate ated d agi agile le coac coach, h, an embedded coach has twice the number of professions to learn abou ab outt bu butt ev even en less tim time. e. Th The e ex expe perie rienc nce e sh she e co coll llec ects ts wi will ll be limited to this particular client and she will lose out on the wide, gene ge nera rali lize zed d kn kno owl wled edge ge th that at co come mess from from wo work rkin ing g wi with th many  many  diverse clients.  As an embedded coach, it is important to make it explicit when  you are stepping from one role to another. another. Do not move constantly back and forth or linger in between, because that will only  confuse people around you. You will also need to find somebody  to train as your replacement.  As an agile coach you should always be careful not to involve yourself  in content content and produ product ct decision decisionss when advising and role modelin modeling. g. It may be propose new nifty features ordnudge the inte in terf rfac ace etempting ju just st so so.. Rto em emem embe berr th that at you yoand u ha have ve be been en enga engage ged to impr impro oveuser th the e

organization and not the product. What is agile coaching?

 

 

 When yourself inside theAnd system youyou are hap making it difficultt toyou cul sta stay yposition objectiv objective e and unbiase unbi ased. d. unl unless ess happen pen to be a recognized domain expert, it is very likely that the organization you are coaching understands their customers better than you do.

. When not to coach “It can be very dangero rou us to see th thiings from fr om som omeb ebod ody y else else’s ’s poi point of vie iew  w   without the proper training.” — Do Doug ugla las s Ada dams ms Coach oachin ing g req equi uirres a ce cert rtai ain n obje object ctiv ivit ity y an and d it is di diffi fficu cult lt to coac coach h pe peop ople le  you deeply care for for.. Avoid coaching your family family,, friends or close business partners partners unless they really ask for it. Ev Even en then you might want to make clear that it’s it’s a oneone-off off thing thing.. Get out of your home or office office,, go to a coffee shop or take a walk while you discuss. And when the coaching session ends, remember to step out of the coaching mode and be  yourself. Sometimes you will meet individuals who mistake coaching for therapy  or ar are e me mess ssed ed up be beyo yond nd th the e he help lp of a co coac ach. h. Coa Coach chin ing g is no nott ther therap apy y. In these cases, we recommend that you gently back off and stay in coaching territory territory.. This is primarily because because amateur amateur therapist therapistss can do serious damage, but also giving therapy is probably not what you were engaged for. Now, of cour course se,, th ther ere e ar are e ag agil ile e co coac ache hess wh who o are are also also trai traine ned d and and lice licens nsed ed therapists thera pists.. Ther There e migh mightt be situation situationss wher where e some somebody body engage engagess such a trained and licensed therapist in order to give therapy to individuals or teams. is the situation, werecommend are quite surethat thatyou youstep know it and handleIfit.this In all other cases, we back andcan let

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professionals with the right skills handle the issue. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

How do you recognize that you areadvice coaching person who needsa therapy more than coaching? The best we a have heard is from pilot in the the co cont ntex extt of la land ndin ing g an ai airp rpla lane ne:: If yo you u ar aree in doub ubt, t, th then en you you ar aree no not  t  in doubt!   doubt!   Me Meanin aning g that if you suspec suspectt that you are on the wrong path, then act as if you are on the wrong path.

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Try this

1) Whe When n wor workin king g wit with h a tea team, m, re regul gularl arly y re remi mind nd you yourse rself lf of your your coachi coa ching ng stanc stance. e. Try to re return turn to the base stan stance ce,, coa coachi ching ng,, as soon as possible. 2) The next time some someone one is asking for your advice, advice, try a diff differe erent nt stance than straight out advising.   Teach  the   the relevant underlying  theory (in a nutshell). Coach  nutshell).  Coach  them  them to bring out the pros and cons of different options.  options.   Mentor  them   them by giving examples from other teams or organizations you have worked with.

What is agile coaching?

 

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Chapter 3

Coach Co achin ing g Fund Fundame ament ntals als

“Att “A tten enti tion on is th the e cu curre rrenc ncy y of le lead ader ersh ship ip.” .” — Ro Rona nald ld He Heif ifet etz z In sec. 2.1, we discussed how agile coaching compares to and contrasts  with systemic coaching. In this chapter we will look more into the fundame da ment ntal alss of usin using g sy syste stemi mic c co coac achi hing ng ap appr proa oach ches es in yo your ur jo job b as an agil agile e coach.  We will focus on how to coach individuals as a systemic coach.  We Coaching teams is much easier once you know how to coach individuals. You do not need to be an expert personal coach though — even a little knowledge of personal coaching can help you a long way   when coaching teams. We will cover techniques for listening and formulating questions and talk about how to structure discussions.

. Code of conduct for a systemic coach Let us first have a look at what a coach coaching ing rel relation ationship ship is. A coachi coaching  ng  relationship is primarily a powerless a  powerless environment  (Stelter environment  (Stelter et al., 2005). This means the coachee and the coach are to be equal partners in the conv co nver ersa sati tion onss. You co coac ach h ey eye e to eye eye — no nott from from abo above an and d not not from from bebelo low w. Th The e co coac ache hee e sho shoul uld d no nott ha have ve to be co conc ncer erne ned d abou aboutt cons conseq eque uenc nces es for her job or career from what thoughts and ideas she is sharing with

the coach. If she has, she will be holding back which will decrease the effect of the coaching. Coaching Fundamentals

 

 

Figure 3.1: The fundamentals of coaching 

Secondly, a coaching relationship is a room a  room with confidentiality . The coachee should feel safe at all points in time, both during and after the conv co nver ersa sati tion on.. Th This is me mean anss th that at yo you u do no nott sh shar are e de deta tail ilss from from the the co conv nver er-sation with others — at least, not without permission from the coachee. In popular terms, one could say that the The the  The Vegas Rule  applies   applies here:  What happens in the conversation, stays in the conversation. We will return to the topic of confidentiality when we talk about establishing a coaching conversation in sec. 3.5. Finally,  it is over when it is over . Me Finally, it Meanin aning, g, you do not res restart tart a coaching conversation once you have completed it. There is a time and place for the conversation conversation.. With Within in that you discuss challeng challenges, es, you explo explore re

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possibilities, you define action plans and you agree on how and when to follow up. Outside that the conversation is not going on. You do not  

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

refer or add on to the conversation when meeting the coachee at the coffee machine, in the canteen or anywhere else.  A coaching relationship can only exist within these restrictions. Always keep them in mind and, when necessary necessary,, make them explicit to the persons you are coaching.

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The mindset set behind systemic coaching

 A coaching conversation is something that is co-created between the coac co ache hee e and the coac coach. h. It is lik like e a  dance  to   to which both parties contribute trib ute.. In ord order er to perf perform orm well well,, you mus mustt first agr agree ee about the purpose,, the style pose style,, the rhythm and so on. If in a rea reall dancing situa situation tion one tries to do a jitterbug while the other attempts a waltz, the mix-up will beco be come me ap appa pare rent nt wi with thin in the the fir first st few few ste steps ps.. In a co coac achi hing ng situ situat atio ion n ho howwever, misunderstandings of similar magnitude can go undetected for a long time.  As coaching is an approach to help people grow grow,, a positive mindset is also required. required. Pe People ople gro grow w through appre appreciati ciation, on, by being ackn acknow owlledged and respected respected for who they are are,, but also by being challen challenged ged by  new and more ambitious goals. Appreciation is not about praising people for any random reason, but taking an approach like appreciative inquiry (Cooperrider and Whitney, Whitney, 2005) as a starting point.  Appreciative inquiry is a research-ba  Appreciative research-backed cked approach where people in an organization collectively imagine and describe a compelling future. Because this future state is desirable, people don’t have to be forced or in-

centiv cent iviz ized ed into into work workin ing g th thei eirr wa way y th ther ere. e. Foc ocus usin ing g on pr prob oble lems ms an and d how  how  to solv solve e th the em is wea eary ryiing in th the e long long run run an and d migh ghtt ev even en make ake th the e pr pro oblems bigger bigger. You will find that sever several al of the models we presen presentt in this Coaching Fundamentals

 

 

book, e.g. the 5D model in sec. 4.2, follow the appreciative inquiry approach.  A catalyst for this is to live out the Pri Princi nciple ple of Heliot Heliotrop ropism  ism , wh whic ich h st stat ates es that positive positive imagina imagination tion leads to positi positive ve actions and result results. s. By having positive ideas about the future we are already laying the foundation for this positive future. Positive thoughts create similar connections in our brains brains as if we alread already y were actin acting g accor according ding to these ideas ideas.. This frees up energy to see new possibilities and do constructive work to wards achieving our goal. Like a sunflow sunflower er we are orienting ourselves towards the sun and take advantage of the possibilities we are being  give given. n. On One e of the mo most st we well ll-k -kno nown wn us uses es of the the Pr Prin inci ciple ple of Helio eliotr trop opis ism m  was President Obama Obama’’s victory speech in Chicago Grant Park, No November vember 4th 4t h 20 2008 08.. His pr prim imary ary me messa ssage gess we were re All  All things are possible , Cha Change ngess are  are  coming  and Yes  and  Yes we can!   With this in mind, let us dig into what tools and techniques you can use for successful coaching.

. Curiosity and keywords  At the risk of stating the obvi obvious, ous, we would like to underline that a coach should be cur curiou iouss and inte intere rested sted in people. This is a self-selective trait: if you are not interested in people, you will find it very boring to work  as an agile coach. So don’t be afraid of asking questions. The only thing   worse than being clueless about something is trying to hide that you are clue cluele less ss.. An And d fran frankl kly y, wh who o is th the e su subj bjec ectt matt matter er ex expe pert rt he herre — yo you u or th the e coachee? That said, if you keep asking random questions or repeat the same pre-

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pared questi pared questions, ons, it sends a sign signal al that you are not takin taking g the conv conversaersation seriously seriously.. Mak Make e notes, revi review ew them and lea learn. rn. Pe People ople kno know w that names and in-house acronyms are difficult to remember, so those are 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

more excu more excusa sabl ble. e. An And d so some meti time mess ne new w to tool olss or an orga organi niza zati tion onal al re restr struc uc-turing may cause what you have learned to becom become e obsolete obsolete.. Eve Even n so, the th e pr prof ofes essi sion onal al ap appr proa oach ch is to rem emem embe berr as much much as po poss ssib ible le or at leas leastt give the impression that you care. Keywords  are words words that unlo unlock ck further ideas and concepts concepts.. They depend pe nd al almo most st to tota tall lly y on th the e co coac ache hee e an and d the the co conv nver ersa sati tion on an and d are are no nott alal ways easy to identify. identify. We recommend that you keep notes, jotting down  what you think could be significant. If some word pops up or is mentioned repeatedly, ask about it or underline the words so that you can return to them later. When there is a lull in the conversation, scan back  and an d lo look ok fo forr in inte tere rest stin ing g an and d re rele leva vant nt to topi pics cs to retu return rn to to.. “Y “You ou me ment ntio ione ned d . . . earlier earlier. What does that mean mean?” ?”

 Asking about something may uncov uncover er more keywords keywords.. Jot them down too and use the new keywords in combination with your agile expertise to design more questions. There is a root cause analysis technique call ca lled ed “fiv five e wh whys ys,,” hi hint ntin ing g at the the fa fact ct th that at di digg ggin ing g do down wn fiv five e laye layers rs is us usuually enough. Sometimes there could be three layers and sometimes six, butt on av bu aver erag age e th the e ca caus usal al br bran anch ch yo you u ar are e ex expl plor orin ing g wi will ll bo bott ttom om out out afte afterr five times of asking ““and and why does does that   that  happen?”   happen?” Be aware that it’s it’s entirely possible to dig ttoo oo far. Yo You u should look out for circular answers and indications that the coachees are getting bored or fidge fid gety ty.. In a co coac achi hing ng co conv nver ersa sati tion on,, yo you u ne need ed to walk walk a fin fine e line line betw betwee een n going too wide and going too deep.  As a practicing agile coach you will stumble across patterns that repeat inside and across companies. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that these the se sim simila ilarr pat pattern ternss hav have e sim simila ilarr solu solutio tions ns.. Ke Keywo yword rdss mos mostt oft often en point to symptoms, but the underlying network of causes and effects can ca n be very very comp compli lica cate ted d an and d no nott al alll of the the ca caus uses es ar are e ne nece cess ssar aril ily y vi visi sibl ble e.

For exa exampl mple, e, man many y ne new w Scr Scrum um tea teams ms (an (and d sad sadly ly man many y est establ ablish ished ed teams too) are struggling struggling to meet their sprint goals goals.. Clear Clearly ly somethin something  g  doess not wo doe work rk as it sho should uld.. . . but wh what? at? Pe Perha rhaps ps the Pr Produ oduct ct Own Owner er is Coaching Fundamentals

 

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pushy,, per pushy perhap hapss the ma manag nagers ers don don’’t und underst erstand and cap capaci acity ty pla plann nning ing,, perhaps they are dependent on another team delivering an unreliable, lo low w qualit quality y compo component nent?? Pe Perhaps rhaps all of the the abo above. ve. . . or somet something hing e else? lse? Don’t make assumptions — go and see.  We will discuss this topic further in the chapter on structured coaching   We (sec. 7). For now now,, remember to be curious and keep track of keywords.

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Listening and responding

 We all think while we listen. We study the person whom we are in a con We versation with, reflect on the words, tie back into our own experiences, find sudden insights or interesting parables and connections. Often our thoughts take us far away into our own spheres of interest and when we come com e back to real reality ity we reali realize ze that we have have missed missed some somethi thing ng.. . . but probably proba bly nothing impo important, rtant, right? Other times we find something really ally im impo port rtan antt to say say an and d mu mull ll ove verr th the e me mess ssag age e, re reha hash shin ing g it in our our own mindss while w mind we e wait fo forr our turn to sp speak. eak... . and fo forget rget to li listen. sten. This is how our brains are built and there is nothing wrong with that.  As coaches, howe however ver,, these habits make it difficult for us to do our job. They take focus away from the coachee, and while we sometimes get good ideas, ideas, just as often we might jump to prematur premature e conclusi conclusions ons.. As coaches, coach es, we need to listen better better.. In this secti section, on, we will cover some thinking models and effective techniques for listening.

Shifti Shi fting ng or suppor supportin ting g The   waiting-to-speak syndrome  occurs The  syndrome  occurs when the listener is not actually focusing on what the speaker is saying, but rather is waiting for a

break in the flow in order to infuse her own thoughts into the discussion.. When som sion somebod ebody y does this to you it feels like the othe otherr person is not actually listening to what you said. In response, people often resort 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

to repeating their words in a louder voice, rehashing their arguments in different words or speaking on top of the other person. This syndrome is the result of what we call  shift response  — when we thin th ink k mo morre ab abou outt ho how w to shif shiftt the the to topi pic c in into to what whatev ever er su suit itss ou ourr purp purpos oses es than about what the other person is saying. The opposite,  support response, is when we are following along with the discussion in order to keep it flowing. flowing. In gene general ral there is nothin nothing g wrong with either kind of  response and a good discussion needs a suitable combination of both.  When we are coaching, howe however ver,, we need to be careful not to to drive   drive  the  the discussion. We need to be aware of which response we are using. Support po rt re resp spon onse se is ge gene nera rally lly th the e ge gent ntle lerr an and d safe saferr op opti tion on.. We alre alread ady y me menntio tioned ke keyw ywo ords in se sec c. 3.3 as a way to st stay ay fo focu cuse sed d and and in se sec c. 3. 3.6 6 we wi will ll disc di scus usss an ef effe fect ctiv ive e me meth thod od for for cr crea eati ting ng ques questi tion onss th that at bri bring ng the the co conv nver er-sation forward without disrupting the topic.

Communi Com municati cation on enab enablers lers Every serious traveller has experienced situations in which they need to communicate with someone but don’t know the language. It can be something as simple as buying a meal or getting a taxi or something  as complex as trying to explain what you do for a living — presumably  some form of ScrumMastering ScrumMastering or agile coaching. coaching. Ho How w do you explain agility if you only have five words in common? How about coaching?  Without a common language l anguage communication becomes slow and errorprone and is limited to simple and concrete things. If you can not point to it or sh sho ow a pi pic ctu turre of it it,, it do does es not exis exist. t. Having ving suf suffic ficie ien nt co com mmand and of a common a  common language  is   is one of the basic communication enablers. As the name suggests, the enablers help the flow of communication. If you

are missing one or more enablers, communication — and thereby also coac co achi hing ng — be beco come mess di diffi fficu cult lt.. If ma many ny or all all en enab able lers rs ar are e mi missi ssing ng,, comcommunication becomes impossible. Coaching Fundamentals

 

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 A  common   common culture  is   is another enabler, similar to a common language. People from different cultures look at the world differently and this can cause misunderstandings misunderstandings during discussions discussions.. Cultural differ differences ences can also also ca caus use e prejudices  which  which tend to prevent people from entering a conversation with open minds. Listener biases  and emotions  Listener biases   and emotions  likewise  likewise make it difficult to communicate.  As an agile coach, you will often meet people who are just doing things  wrong and refuse to understand it — in fact they may even try to convince vinc e you that your own meth methods ods will never wor work k here. It may help to recognize that you are both biased in your own ways. Similarly, if a person is upset or sad, she may find it difficult to focus on the discussion. It could be a quarrel at home, some personal issues, perhaps bad news, sometimes just too little sleep or a headache. For communication to be effective you will also need enough need  enough time  and  and a  distraction-free environment . For example, one of the authors of this book gets caught by moving images and finds it difficult to hold a discussion if a television is on in the background. Even an information radiatorr or a street windo diato window w can be distr distractin acting. g. He solv solves es this by picki picking  ng  seats that face away from the TV or windo window w. Furthermore, the communication channel should be as wide as possible.1 Morse orse co code de or ra radi dio o tr tran ansm smis issi sion onss ar are e at on one e ex extr trem eme: e: th thes ese e tran transsmissions are very slow, unidirectional and require additional encoding  and decoding. decoding. Videoconf Videoconferen erencing cing tools are some somewher where e in the midd middle, le, although they have become much better over the last decade or so. Live face-to-fa faceto-face ce discussio discussion n is at the other extre extreme. me. In a live conve conversatio rsation, n, verbal communication is enhanced by postures, gestures, facial expressionss and body move sion movement ments. s. Inf Informati ormation on flows in both dire direction ctionss between the participants.

1 “The most efficien efficientt and effective effective method method of conveying conveying information information.. . . is face-toface-to-

face conversation.” (“Agile Manifesto,” 2001)  

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

 Active  Activ e listening  Virginia Satir (1964) was the first to recogniz recognize e that listening consists of  several stages. She divides reception into intake, meaning, significance and response response.. As coaches coaches,, we like to use the simpler but still adequate active listening model2  which contains the three phases of comprehending, retaining and responding. responding. In act activ ive e lis listen tening ing,, the firs firstt pha phase se iiss comprehending . Th This is incl includ udes es he hear ar-ing and understandin understanding g the wor words, ds, sentenc sentences es and the conte context. xt. As mentioned above, understanding the language and the cultural context is very important and even critical for comprehension. The second phase is retaining  is  retaining . The probl problem em here is that spee speech ch is realtime,, widetime wide-band band com communi municatio cation. n. The wor words ds come at you fast and it is not always possible to stop and consider a sentence from different perspectives or even ask the speaker to repeat. Other problems include the fact that short-term memory is lossy — previous sentences will be drowned out by new ones. Further, it sometimes happens that you underestimate the significance of some someth thin ing g wh when en yo you u made fir first st he hear ar it it.. important Later Later yo you u ge get t mo morpreviously, re in info form rmat atio ion n an and d realize that the speaker some point previously , but you can ca n no lo lon nge gerr rem emem emb ber exac exactl tly y wha hatt it was as.. It is also also ea easy sy to lo lose se at atte ten ntion, especially in one-way presentations or in other situations where  you are not expected to contribute. The th thir ird d ph phas ase e is   responding , whi hich ch in incl clud udes es bo both th verba erball an and d non-verba nonverball respon responses. ses. Body lang language uage — a simp simple le thing like raisi raising ng a finger — can be a powerful way of reacting without actually breaking  the flow of the speaker. speaker. Verbal response responsess come on diffe differen rentt levels: we

can repeat what we just heard word by word, we can paraphrase the message messa ge or we can add our ow own n reflections reflections to it. We might also bring  2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listening 

Coaching Fundamentals

 

 

the topic forward by replying in support or in contradiction, or perhaps shift the topic to something else. The good news is that listening and responding is a skill at which you can ca n be beco come me be bette tterr. Le Let’ t’ss fo focu cuss on a mo mode dell th that at ma may y he help lp you you un unde derst rstan and d how listening works.

The leve levels ls of li list sten enin ing g There are different ways of listening, some of which are more suitable and some some less suitab suitable le for coach coaching ing.. Kim Kimsey sey-H -Hous ouse e et al. (20 (2011) 11) describes three levels of listening that approximately map to first person (me), second person (you) (you) and third person view (us). Let’s Let’s describe these listening levels (see also fig. 3.2) and reflect on how they can be useful for an agile coach.

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Figure 3.2: The levels of listening 

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Lev Le vel 1 – In Inte terna rnall liste listeni ning ng (s (sub ubje ject ctiv ive) e)   — In level 1 list ste ening, the narrator’s story is reflected through the listener’s own experiences and memories. memories. Ke Keywor ywords ds remind you of episodes or topics that are ar e of inte intere rest st to you you,, but not nece necessa ssarily rily to the spe speake akerr. It can trigger a premature reply, an unexpected shift response that cuts the flow and steers the discussion off topic.

For example, when hearing about somebody’ somebody’ss misfortunes on the  way to work, the listener may be prompted to tell about her own commute comm ute.. Or when hearing some somebody body complain complain about a problem, the may feel obliged solve it.ay Orbe when the menti entio onslistener a th theo eory ry or m eth thod od,, th the e to list liste ener m led led to give gispeaker ve a leclecture on the topic complete with “interesting “interesting”” examples. Sometimes people just feel the need to vent and do not want much more than “tea and sympathy”, compassion and support. Other times, times, they might be hopi hoping ng for concr concrete ete advice related to some issue and might not be interested in hearing tangential stories.. The speake stories speakerr may be halfw halfway ay through a story when she is interru int errupte pted d and no nott all allo owe wed d to finish finish.. In all of the these se cases cases,, the shift response response may be quite rude to the original original speaker speaker.. Pe People ople may get the perception that the responder is selfish, trying to hijack the discussion or one-upping in an attempt to impress. Of course, level 1 listening can also inject new and interesting information into a discussion. When mentoring, it can be useful to share shar e persona personall experien experiences. ces. A drink and a funny anecdo anecdote te told at a party may trigger more drinks and even funnier anecdotes. In coaching conversations, however, level 1 is mostly out of place and should be used with care.

Lev Le vel 2 – Foc ocuse used d list listeni ening ng (p (pas assiv sive) e)   — In le level vel 2 listening, the listener is fully focused on sucking in information and committing it to memory memo ry.. The story is heard withou withoutt filters and the listen listener er is almost sitting in the narrator’s chair. Coaching Fundamentals

 

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This can be a very effective way of learning about the other person. We use the VIBE model to remem remember ber what to observe when listening: • Voice — the into intonation, nation, energy energy level, sighs and grunts • Information — verbal (choice of words words,, what is said, wha whatt is left unsaid) and non-verbal (shrugging, pointing) • Body lang language uage — hand gesture gestures, s, changes in postur posture, e, facial expressions etc. • Emot Emotions ions — is the person comin coming g across as happy happy,, sad, distressed, calm, energetic, passive, neutral etc. The main drawback of level 2 listening is that you sometimes forget to participate enough in the discussion and this can make the speaker speak er nervous or distr distraugh aught. t. This is becau because se people subconsubconscious sci ously ly sea searc rch h for feed feedbac back k whi while le spe speaki aking. ng. If the fee feedba dback ck is missing or contradictory, the speaker gets confused and doesn’t know how to continue. Most people just sputter to a stop, thinking that the listener listener is trying to be mean or sarcasti sarcastic. c. As a coach coach,, this is not the message you want to send. Lev Le vel 3 – Gl Glob obal al list listen enin ing  g  — Listening with empathy. Everything is incl clud uded ed in the the liste listeni ning ng:: th the e sp spea eake ker’ r’ss to tone ne of voic voice, e, bo body dy lang langua uage ge,, changes chan ges in energy leve level, l, etc. The listen listener er is not only listen listening ing to the voice and words of the speaker but also actively follows the non-verbal cues. Global listening requires patience and curiosity  and the ability to put yourself in the shoes of the speaker.

Humans are social animals and we have evolved to use body  language and facial expressions as well as prosody — the tone of 

voice, voic e, sy sylla llabl ble e str stres esss an and d rhy rhyth thm m — wh when en we co comm mmun unic icat ate. e. Non-verbal cues give additional information that can be very  useful use ful in a coa coachi ching ng conv convers ersati ation. on. Oft Often en the cue cuess sup suppor portt the verb ve rbal al me mess ssag age, e, bu butt so some meti time mess th they ey ca can n se seem em irre irrele leva vant nt or 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

even conflicting conflicting.. Con Conflict flict in words and body language language could for example indicate that the other person is stressed or distracted. Otherr ti Othe time mess yo you u ca can n pi pick ck up no nonn-ve verb rbal al in info form rmat atio ion n tha thatt ch chan ange gess or even inverts the meaning meaning of the words words.. Sar Sarcasm, casm, for example example,, relies reli es on tuning the verba verball message just right. Whil While e people can express sarcasm just by choosing the appropriate (or inappropriate) words, it is much easier if they can use non-verbal channels as well. Non-v No n-verb erbal al com commun munica icatio tion n is oft often en mor more e hon honest est tha than n ver verbal bal comm co mmun unic icat atio ion. n. Th That at is, is, so some mebo body dy mi migh ghtt sa say y on one e th thin ing g ye yett make ake it ap appa parrent ent fr from om th thei eirr st sta ance an and d the the to ton ne th they ey us use e that th at th they ey wo woul uld d ra rath ther er sa say y so some meth thin ing g else else.. Th Ther ere e ar are e also also microexpressions, visible emotions like disgust, anger and fear that flicker over the face for a fraction of a second. While they are difficult to catch, they are also almost impossible to suppress. Peo eopl ple e who kn kno ow wha hatt to look look fo forr might ight ga gain in a lo lott of inf infor orm mati ation on,, such as whether the other person is being truthful or not. That said, in the context of agile coaching, we are more interested in setting up a sa saffe and constru ruc ctive environment than constantly assess constantly assessing ing the honesty of the coachee. coachee. Body langu language age is too large and fuzzy a topic to fit in here, so we will not go into detail det ail.. Our mes messag sage e to you is to wat watch ch for gestu gesture res, s, pos postur tures, es, emot em otio ions ns,, in infle flect ctio ions ns,, pa paus uses es etc. etc.,, th that at in indi dica cate te wh whet ethe herr th the e coachee is alert and interested in the conversation. Combine this information with the spoken words to gain a more complete understanding of what is going on. In addition to the three levels of listening, there are also several ways

of   not listening . On of   One e mi migh ghtt ig igno nore re the oth other er pers person on com comple plete tely ly or half ha lf-l -lis iste ten n wh whil ile e do doin ing g ot othe herr th thin ings gs.. Ob Obvi viou ously sly th thes ese e ar are e no nott go good od approa app roache chess for an agile coa coach. ch. If you find yours yourself elf distrac distracted ted to the point of listening with a half ear only or briefly ignoring the other Coaching Fundamentals

 

 

person, the best thing you can do is apologize and either break the discussion or continue with renewed focus. There is noth There nothing ing partic particularly ularly goo good d or bad in any of the thre three e levels. In fact, in a normal social conversation all three levels are needed in suitable amounts. In coaching conversations, however, level 1 and to some extent also level 2 can disturb the balance of the discussion and undermine the trust between between coachee and coach coach.. This is why an agil agile e coach should continuously be aware of which level she is listening at and try  to move towards towards levels 2 and 3.

Try this this 1) You can try out the differ different ent levels of listening on a test subject in a short exercise exercise of less than ten minutes minutes.. Expla Explain in the three lev lev-els, then ask the other person to tell you a story e.g. about what they did last weekend in three minutes. While they tell the story   you will switch several times between the three levels of listening.  After the story is finished, the storyteller should try to guess the sequence quenc e of listening listening level levelss that you used. You can also swap roles and run the exercise again. 2) If you not notice ice that you are fal fallin ling g int into o level level 1 lis listen tenin ing, g, fee feelin ling ga strong urge to tell of similar events or give solutions, you can try  some of the following “survival techniques techniques”: ”: • Foc ocus us on id iden enti tify fyin ing g an and d wr writ itin ing g do down wn ke keyw ywor ords ds as you you he hear ar them th em,, so th tha at you ca can n get th the em off your your mind ind and and onto pape paperr  where you can pick them up later later.. If the same keywords are

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repeated, underline them or draw boxes around them. • If you run out of k keywords, eywords, also n note ote your o own wn ideas and hy hy-potheses. One technique is to draw a vertical line across the paper and write keywords and observations on the left and  your own thoughts and hypotheses on the right. r ight. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

• Ask neutr neutral al clarifyi clarifying ng questi questions ons rela related ted to the keywor keywords ds you pick up: “Tell “Tell me more abo about ut . . . ”, “What do you mean when  you say . . . ?” ?”,, “What was the impact of . . . ?” or ““Why Why do you thin th ink k they acted acted tha thatt wa way y . . . ?” Do Don n’t try to help the ot othe herr person or create any development in the discussion. • In your o own wn mind mind,, quickly and silen silently tly repea repeatt the words the other person person is saying. This tech technique nique is kno known wn as “r “rapid apid repeating”” and it helps with clearing out your own thoughts. repeating • Don Don’’t talk, use only non-verbal signa signals ls (sounds, expressions, expressions, grunts and body language) to keep the conversation going. • Limit yourself to replies of one or two syllables (“Yes” (“Yes”,, “OK” “OK”,, “Mhm? “M hm?””, ““And And tthen hen?” ?” . . . ) to ke keep ep th the e con conver versat sation ion goin going  g   without injecting topics. • Ad Admi mitt th that at you you go gott lost lost in the di disc scus ussi sion on:: “Sor orry ry,, I wa wass distracted/had to write something down. down. Could you repeat  what you just said?” s aid?” • Re Repea peatt bac back k wha whatt you hear heard d to con confirm firm your und underst erstan andding (active listening). You can repeat exactly what you heard  word by word (verbatim) or describe it in your own words (paraphrasing). • Ad Adju just st your your own pos postu ture re to ch chan ange ge the dyn dynam amic ics. s. Le Lean an forward or back, cross/uncross your legs or just relax in the chair cha ir.. Wh When en the topic cha chang nges, es, you can take it as a cue to change your posture. • Mirror the other person person’’s body posture and v voice oice level. This technique is known as “pacing”. • Ap Apply ply som some e “min mindfu dfulne lness ss”” in your your lis listen tenin ing. g. Wi Witho thout ut remo removving your focus from the speaker, try to relax and make your awareness wider. Open up your senses to take in as much of 

the environment you can. 3) The nex nextt time you are in a pla place ce with man many y others others — a loung lounge, e, classroom, concert, shopping mall, beach, park, restaurant, footCoaching Fundamentals

 

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ball match ball match,, tra train in stat station ion etc etc.. — take a mo momen mentt to apply apply level level 3 listening listen ing on the who whole le room. Observ Observe e what is happen happening. ing. What groups gro ups can yo you u see? Who is talk talkin ing g to who whom? m? Ar Are e peopl people e enerenergetic, expectant, stressed, happy or sad?

. Structure for a coaching conversation  A coaching conversation is not jjust ust small talk about how things are going or not going. Coac Coaching hing conv conversati ersations ons are for comm committed itted indiv individuiduals or teams that want to make a significant change or get wiser about an important important matter matter.. To help you succee succeed d as a coach, you can apply a structure to the coaching conversation. This helps you and the coachee (or team) to focus on the important topics and find specific actions to carry out as results of the conversation. It is important to remember that a coaching conversation is something  that you design together with the persons you are working with, at the moment mome nt when the convers conversation ation is wante wanted. d. As a coach you nev never er take the coachee or team to places they do not want to go — this would be strictly strictl y out of line line.. You should neve neverr guide the conten contentt of the discu discusssi sion on,, no norr fo forc rce e so some mebo body dy in into to a di disc scus ussi sion on.. W Wha hatt yo you u do in inst stea ead d is help help them to go where they want to go, while helping them reflect on what is important.  As the coach, your task is to make sure that the environment is right. In

sec. 3.4, we mentioned the important communication enablers. Try to ensure that all of them are in place. Allocating enough time and setting  up a distraction-free environment is easy, but if there are large cultural differencess or you lack a common language you may have to reconsider difference  whether the conversation is worth having at all. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

 We have found that many people do not know what coaching  We coaching looks like. Sometimes they just need to vent or want some advice and get upset  when you start by asking questions. In such situations, we have found it useful to ask for permission to coach, for example, by saying:  “Is it  ok if I ask you some questions to help you achieve the result you want to  achieve?” 

The two two leve levels ls of the the coac coachi hing ng conve onvers rsat atio ion n  As shown below in fig. 3.3, a coaching conversation is conducted on two levels: levels: A) the convers conversati ation on level and B) the meta level (Sto (Storc rch h et al.,, 200 al. 2006). 6). As the coac coach h you are con consta stantl ntly y actin acting g on both both levels. levels. The coachee or team is primarily on the conversation level, but will from time to time be invited to the meta level by you.

Figure 3.3: The structure of a coaching conversation

Coaching Fundamentals

 

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The conversation level  is The conversation   is where the actual conversation happens. Here  you are using the levels of listening, showing curiosity and forming  questions based on keywords as we discussed previously. The coachee or team are also on this level as they answer your questions. The meta level  is The meta   is where you are observing, reflecting and designing the conversation. Here you are deciding which powerful questions3 to ask,  which hypotheses to formulate and in which direction to take the conversation versa tion nex next. t. As a coach coach,, imagine you yourself rself as having a third eye observing the conversation from the meta level and your awareness about the flow of the conversatio conversation. n. The answ answers ers you get will help you make the right decisions.

Meet up at the meta level  As mentioned, you will from time to ttime ime invite the coachee or team to  join you at the meta level. The purpose for this is to have have a  a conversation  about abo ut the con conver versat sation  ion to to coll collab abor orat ate e on de desi sign gnin ing g th the e co conv nver ersa sati tion on,, re re-flect on the learnings so far and make decisions about where to go next. There are normally at least three opportunities for meeting at the meta level: (1) When you are establishin establishing g a con contract tract for the conversation (2) When you are havi having ng a ch check-up eck-up during the conversation (3) When y you ou are concluding the conv conversation. ersation.  At the very start of the conversation, you should spend a little time on making contact with the one(s) you are coaching. Establishing contact

helps peop helps people le rela relaxx an and d feel feel co confi nfide dent nt in sp spea eaki king ng free freely ly.. T Thi hiss is sm smal alll talk  talk  and chit chat, talking about the weather, the traffic, how’s-your-family, etc.. Ke etc Keep ep in min mind d tha thatt you shou should ld sta start rt steeri steering ng tow towar ards ds starti starting ng the actual coaching conversation before too long. 3 The concept of powerful questions is explained up in sec. 3.6.

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

How Ho w you can esta establ blis ish h the the contr ontrac actt  When you are establishing the contract, you invite the other part to talk  about the conversation you are about to have. The contract consists of  an agreement that you will have a coaching conversation, the ground rules for the conversation and the goal for the conversation. First of all, it should be clear for both parties that you are not just having a little chat. You are about to enter a serious conversa conversation tion whi which ch might include both sensitive information and personal decisions. This expectation is sometimes implicit in the invitation, but it doesn’t hurt to make it explicit. If you are in a discussion already and realize that it might turn into a coaching conversation, you might ask  “Is  “Is it OK if I ask   you some questions to help you solve this problem?”   You can also set up a later meeting in a similar way: “Should way:  “Should we sit down tomorrow and have  a coaching conversation about this topic?”   Y  You ou will also need to establish the ground rules of the coaching conversation. This normally includes a statement of confidentiality from your side as well as the promise of an “emergency exit” for the coachee or individual members. we, typically useHo the simple and strictteam Vegas Vegas Rule thatFor weconfidentiality, describe described d earlier earlier, in sec. 3.1. Howev wever er,, if  the team you are coaching is large and the atmosphere in the organization is sufficiently constructive, forgiving and supporting, you could also consider the Chatham the  Chatham House Rule 4 . It sta states tes tha thatt all partic participa ipants nts are free to use any information, but are not allowed to reveal who made any comment. In recurring meetings the rules quickly become implicit and you don’t

need to repeat them, but when you are coaching someone for the first time tim e you wil willl hav have e to expli explicit citly ly set do down wn the rules rules.. We hav have e a kin kind d of  boilerplate that we use that goes something like this: 4 https://www.chathamhouse.org/about/chatham-house-rule

Coaching Fundamentals

 

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“Before we get started, I would like to make it clear that I will keep this  conversation confidential. I may bring up general issues with others, but  won’t talk about things that can be traced to you or to this discussion unless le ss yo you u giv give me pe perm rmis issi sion on.. Als lso o, yo you u ha have ve th thee righ rightt to end end th thee disc discus ussi sion  on  and walk out if you fee eell lik ikee it, it, no ques esttions asked. If at any point and for  whatever reason you feel that you don don’t ’t want to be in this room anymore,  just say so and we will sstop top right there. there.”  ”   We find it good practice to have the counterpart formulate the goal of   We the conversation in one short sentence — and we usually also write it down in a notepad or on a sticky note. We usually ask questions like: •   “What is the topic you want to elaborate and get insights on?”  •   “Ho “How w can I best serve you during this conversation?”  •   “Are ther theree questions you especially want me to ask or questions you  absolutely do not want me to ask?”  •   “W “Whe hen n th this is co conv nver ersa sati tion on is ove verr, wh wher eree do yo you u ex expe pect ct to be an and d wh what  at  do you hope to have learned?”  Now the actua Now actuall coach coaching ing conve conversatio rsation n can begin. Sta Start rt by pickin picking g out keyw ke ywor ords ds from from th the e go goal alss yo you u ju just st ag agre reed ed on an and d form formul ulat ate e a qu ques esti tion on or several questions from that.

Having Havi ng check-up check-ups s During the conversation, you should from time to time make a timeout to check-up check-up on the conv convers ersati ation on.. Loo Look k at the clo clock ck an and d the time timebo box, x, summarize the learning so far and decide where to go next.

Check-ups help to co-design the conversation on the fly with the purpose of bringing the most possible value into it. Think of it as a sort of  in-sprint inspect-and-adapt cycle on the meta level.  Y  You ou can use check-ups when you feel the conversation is at a crossroads in which which you have to decid decide e which path to take nex next. t. Be humb humble le and 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

unbiased: do not take for gran unbiased: granted ted that your personal decis decision ion will be the best path. Ins Instead tead ask the one( one(s) s) you are coaching what they think  and follow follow ttheir heir cho choice ice.. Rem Remembe ember: r: it is not abo about ut you! It is all ab about out them th em!! Y You ou ca can n al also so us use e ch chec eckk-up upss to re-n re-neg egot otia iate te th the e go goal al if yo you u an and d the the other person realize that another topic seems to be more important.  Y  You ou can make as many check-ups as you feel necessary necessary,, asking questions like:

•  “Let me summarize the discussion so far. We have been discussing  . . . and and . . . , fi figu guri ring ng o out ut ttha hatt . . . . Do yo you uw wan antt to expa expand nd mo morre on  this, thi s, o orr wo would uld you ra rathe therr mo move ve on a and nd lo look ok at other other opti options ons?? What  would that be?”  •   “Let’ “Let’ss look at wher wheree we are in this conversati conversation. on. As I see it, we can  either go in the d direc irection tion of .... . or in the dir direction ection of .... . . Yo You u mig might  ht  see a third direction. Where do you want to go from here?”  •  “Let’s step out of the conversation and check how we are doing. In  thee beg th egin inni ning ng of th this is co conv nver ersa sati tio on we ag agrree eed d to spea speak k ab abo out . . . bu but  t  it seems to to me tha thatt we ar aree no now w discu discussing ssing . . . . What d do o you tthink, hink, should we return to the original topic or is the new topic more important to you?” 

 When the check-up is over you can continue the conversation taking  into account the decisions you have just made together.  As an aside, we have found it useful to have a clock unobtrusively avail-

able. The simplest way is to put your wristwatch flat on the table beside  your notepad. Smartwatches can be set to vibrate at certain points in time. Som time. Some e smartphon smartphones es can be configur configured ed to always show the time and there’s a plethora of timer apps. If all else fails, simply explain that  you want to see how much time is left before you pull out your phone or  watch. Coaching Fundamentals

 

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Defin De fine e the the next next step steps, s, star starti ting ng with with a clea clearr concl onclus usio ion n By the end of the conversation, it is time to come to a conclusion focusing on the specific steps the coachee or team is going to do, in order to initiate the desired change. Have him, her or them summarize the conclusion instead of you doing it. That fosters the sense of responsibility. Remember: it is not your solution — it is their solution!  As a follow up to the conversation, it is great practice to ask about what the next step will be, when this will be done and how you will know that this has been achieved. achieved. To the last questio question n the one(s) you coach will usuall usu ally y ans answe werr som someth ethin ing g lik like: e:   “I’l “I’lll se send nd yo you u an ee-ma mail il,, le lett ttin ing g yo you u kn kno ow  how it went” . In serv service ice to the other part part,, you could could then re reply: ply:   “And  if I do not receive this mail, will it be helpful for you if I ask you about  how it went?”  This  This attitude sharpens the awareness about the coaching  conversation as something that serves a purpose, rather than just being  a chat about life, the universe and everything.

End En d by aski asking ng for for feed feedba back ck Finally, being a coach that wants to improve your skills, you should also ask for feedback about about the coac coaching hing conv conversati ersation. on. You can ask questions like: “How like:  “How was this conversation for you?” , “What did I do that was  especially useful for you?”   you?”   and and “Which  “Which questions did I ask that were useless or disturbing for your understanding of the matter?” . Receive the feedback with gratitude and ask clarifying questions if you  wish, but do not go into arguing about whether the feedback was right

or wrong. You are asking for opinion opinionss and everyon everyone e is enti entitled tled to their own. The imp importa ortant nt matte matterr is how the coa coache chee e or team experi experien enced ced  your coaching — there is most likely a point behind the feedback regardless of whether you liked it or not. Just like you opened the conversation, it can also be good to close down the conversation with chit chat and small talk as you collect your pens 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

and papers papers and pack your bag. If you are meet meeting ing the coach coachee ee or the team again, you might also want to agree on the time and perhaps a topic or even an agenda for your next meeting.

Try this this 1) Co Coach achin ing g con conver versat sation ionss ar are e bes bestt pra practi cticed ced in a liv live e set setup up.. We recommend that you start out by practicing with individuals and once you are comfortable with this, you can move on to coaching  teams. someone is willing to be coached by you,This evenmeans thoughfinding you may still be awho novice. Ide deal ally ly th the e in init itia iall se setu tup p sh shou ould ld be th thre ree e pe perso rsons ns:: on one e wh who o is coaching, one who is being coached (the coachee) and one who observes the conversation. This works very well if all three of you  want to practice coaching. You can then take turns being the coac co ach, h, th the e co coac ache hee e an and d th the e ob obse serve rverr. You can do 20 20-m -min inut ute e coachi coa ching ng con conver versat sation ionss fol follo lowe wed d by five mi minut nutes es of fee feedba dback  ck  from the observer, then take a five-minute break, switch roles and have have a new coa coachi ching ng conv convers ersati ation. on. (Y (Yes, es, as you pro probab bably  ly  already have figured out, the Pomodoro technique5 can be used for many purposes.) 2) If you can can’’t find an observer, then another option is to record record the conversati conv ersation on and learn from it. You will of cours course e need the per per-mission of the coachee to record the conversation. Ourr ex Ou expe perie rienc nce e tell tellss us th that at wh whil ile e au audi dio o re reco cord rdin ings gs are are go good od,, vi vide deo o

recordings recordin gs are much better for recall and understan understanding ding.. Po Posisition the camera so that your upper body is in the frame, not the coache coa chee. e. Ma Make ke sure that the pictu picture re is wid wide e eno enough ugh for you to move around, around, but st still ill shows your postures and facial expressions clearly. 5 See http://pomodorotechnique.com/ http://pomodorotechnique.com/

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Most modern pocket cameras or smartphones are more than adequate for this purpose, but you may want to record a minute of  vide video o be befo fore reha hand nd to extr extrap apol olat ate e wh whet ethe herr th ther ere e is en enou ough gh memo memory  ry  available. Downscale the video to a lower quality in order to save space,, as low-qua space low-quality lity video is better than no video at all. A cheap tripod,, a fas tripod fastt char charger ger and a long charg charging ing cable w will ill als also o be use useful. ful. 3) Im Imag agin ine e a co coac achi hing ng co conv nver ersa sati tion on wh wher ere e yo you u fin find d it di diffi fficu cult lt to synsynchro ch roni nize ze wi with th the the co coac ache hee. e. You ca can n eith either er th thin ink k ba back ck to a pr prev evio ious us coaching conversation that did not go as expected or think about an upco upcomi ming ng conv conver ersa sati tion on wi with th a pe perso rson n yo you u ar are e un unce certa rtain in ab abou out. t. Now con consid sider er the comm commun unica icatio tion n ena enable blers rs in sec. 3.4. Whi Which ch ones were (or will be) especially relevant for the success of the conversation? Is there something related to the enablers that you could have done (or could now do) differently to improve the chances of success?

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Pow Powerfu erfull quest uestio ions ns “It is folly to say you know what is happ ha ppen enin ing g to ot othe herr pe peop ople le.. On Only ly th the ey  kno kn ow, if th the ey exi xist st.. The hey y ha hav ve th thei eirr own Univ Un iver erse ses s of th thei eirr own eyes and ears ears.” .” — Do Doug ugla las s Ada dams ms

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 Asking the right r ight questions is a challenging task, especially when you do not want to impose your own opinion on to the person or team you are talking to. to. Great coachin coaching g questions are open-ended, nonnon-judging  judging  and help foster new ideas and visions about possibilities. These kind of  questions we call powerful call powerful questions  (see  (see fig. 3.4). 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Figure 3.4: Po Powerful werful Questions

There are several approaches to creating powerful questions. They depend on which coaching coaching schoo schooll you are coming from from.. One appro approach ach is to practice a deck of questions until you know them by heart which help he lpss you you ch choo oose se the the ri righ ghtt on one e in a give given n situ situat atio ion. n. A Ano noth ther er ap appr proa oach ch is to le lear arn n a st stra rate tegy gy fo forr de desi sign gnin ing g th the e ri righ ghtt qu ques esti tion onss as ne need eded ed.. On One e su such ch strategy that we have found works particularly well with both individuals and teams is based on a model developed by Canadian psychologist Karl Tomm.

The past past and and the the futu future re — simp simple le an and d compl omple ex assu assump mpti tion ons s The Karl Tomm Tomm approa approach ch has its roots in systemic theory theory.. It encapsu encapsu--

lates circularity and the understanding that each of us has a different perspective of the facts in a given situation and is entitled to that view. No one has monopoly on the truth; indeed different people can have very different perspectives and hence different understandings of what is happening and why. The model in fig. 3.5 shows two dimensions. Time is shown on the horizontal axis as the as  the past   and and the  the future . On the vertical axis we can find Coaching Fundamentals

 

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Figure 3.5: Karl Tomm’s model for asking Powerful Questions

simple   (ob (obvio vious, us, evi eviden dent, t, lin linear ear)) and complex  (non (non-evid -evident, ent, multi multi-path -path,, circular). While time should be easy to understand, the concept of simplicity vs. complexity may require a bit of explanation. In a simple and linear world, there is little room for doubt. Cause-andeffect relations are easy to see and everybody can correctly predict the result of any given action. In the complex world, how however ever,, you generally 

can t draw a strai cant straight ght line from cause to effect. effect. Ther There e can be multiple interactin inter acting g causes, not all of them visible visible.. There There may also be circu circular lar cause-and-effect chains of different lengths, for example vicious loops and virtuous cycles. In a complex, circular world people may have quite diff di ffer eren entt in inte terp rpre reta tati tion onss of wh why y so some meth thin ing g ha happ ppen ened ed the the wa way y it di did, d, and and sometimes even different opinions on what exactly happened. Powerful questions are anchored in all four quadrants of Karl Tomm’s 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

model. The powerful questions can be aimed either at what has already  happened (past-oriented), or at what could happen (future-oriented). The powerful powerful questi questions ons can also be desig designed ned on the presumpt presumption ion that there is one and only one truth (linear questions) or so that they ackno kn owl wled edge ge th the e di dive vers rsit ity y in our our unde underst rstan andi ding ng of the the tru truth th (cir (circu cula larr qu ques es-tions).  When we ask questions that are past-oriented and linear (upper left in fig. 3.5), we ask questions like a detective in an interrogation, for example: •  “What happened then?”  •   “What kind of velocity did you have befor beforee that?”  •  “When did it happen?”  •   “Ho “How w did it wor work k out?”  •   “Was it the PO or the customer?”   As a detective, we are looking for facts that help us understand the issue. 6 Remember that facts undisputable: something either happened or it did not happen.  Allare kinds of data, statistics, recordings, diaries, blog  posts, e-mails etc. are welcome.

But even when people are in the same place at the same time, they often end up with diffe differen rentt observation observations. s. Me Memorie moriess have a tendency to evaporate evap orate ov over er time. Peo People ple fill in with assumption assumptionss when they don don’’t

have all the facts. This means that people can have very different inter pretations of various events. Hidden assumptions are a major source of  conflict and unearthing them can help immensely immensely..  When we ask questions that are like past-oriented and circular left in the picture), we ask questions an anthropologist doing(lower research. 6 As far as we know, know, this is the case everywhere except in Wash Washington ington DC, where it

might be helpful to explicitly say “a true fact”. fact”. Coaching Fundamentals

 

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 We are looking for intentions and expanding our understanding of the  We intentions. For example, we could ask: •   “What do you think was their mo motivation tivation to do so?”  •   “From which po point int of view could her action make sense?”  •   “Could it be that they knew something that the rrest est of you did not?  What could it be?”  •   “Do you think she saw this as a problem at all?”  Future-oriented circular questions (lower right) are intended to explore opportunities and different scenarios and expand possibilities. Her Here e we ask questions like a future researcher researcher,, such as: •   “What could you d do o to make things better?”  •   “I “Iss th ther eree so some meth thin ing g yo you u co coul uld d do to pr prev even entt this this fr from om ha happ ppen enin ing g in  the future?”  •   “Can you see a po possible ssible solution to this problem?”  It can also be useful to apply appreciative inquiry and heliotropism to explore a positive and compelling future rather than focus on the proble lems ms an and d is issu sues es.. On One e tri trick ck is to ask ask a “mi mira racl cle e qu ques esti tion on”; ”; some someth thin ing g th that at suggests that a miracle has happened overnight: •   “If you come to work tomorro tomorrow w and the problem has unexpectedly 

disappeared, how would you notice that?”  •   “One day when you have solve solved d this matter and look back on this  period in time, which decisions did you make that made a difference?”  Questions in this future-oriented, circular category might seem a bit stran str ange ge at first first,, but giv give e it a try try.. The adv advan antag tage e of que questi stions ons like thi thiss 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

is that they disconnect the person or team in front of you from the constrained situation they are currently in. They free up energy to see new  perspectives and decide on new courses of action based on those perspec sp ecti tive vess. They hey he help lp the the pe pers rson on or te team am to see see wh whic ich h pa part rt of th the e mirac acle le or th the e de desi sirred fu futu ture re ar are e al alrrea eady dy pr pres esen entt to toda day y an and d how how they they ca can n be used used as stepping stones towards the goal. Finally, we can ask simple or linear future-oriented questions (upper right rig ht). ). Th Thes ese e ar are e th the e ki kind nd of qu ques esti tion onss th that at a ca capt ptai ain n wo woul uld d as ask. k. Th They ey ar are e more mo re di dire rect ct an and d pr prac acti tica cal, l, de defin finin ing g th the e ne next xt st step epss for for th the e de desi sire red d ch chan ange ge:: •   “What is the first thing you are going to do now now?”  ?”  •   “Who do you need to talk to in order to mo move ve this forwar forward”  d”  •   “Ho “How w can he or she h help elp you?”  •   “Ho “How w will I know that yo you u have done this?”  Like at the end of a retrospective, this is where specific tasks are defined and an d pr prep epar ared ed for for ac acti tion on.. As th the e co coac ach h yo your ur ro role le is to ensu ensurre th that at th the e ta task skss are clear and simple, but also that the coachee takes responsibility. You can look back at sec. 3.5 for inspiration and more examples.

It is like driving a car  When coaching someone, we are mostly looking at the future and the change we are going to make. However, However, from time tto o time we must look 

back into the past to understand what has happened and why we are in the current situation. It is like driving a car; we are mostly looking out the windshield at the traffic in front of us, but from time to time we also need to look in the rear-view mirrors to know what is behind us. There is no specific route you must follow when using Karl Tomm omm’’s discussion model. We have found that most of our coaching conversations te tend nd to st star artt in th the e de dete tect ctiv ive e di dime mens nsio ion, n, movi moving ng on to the the pe pers rspe pect ctiv ive e of  an anthropologist, then investigate as the future researcher and finally  Coaching Fundamentals

 

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ending up as the captai ending captain. n. This is the order in which we introd introduced uced the quadrants quadr ants in the previo previous us section. You can imag imagine ine drawin drawing g the letter “U” ove verr fig fig.. 3. 3.5, 5, star starti ting ng fr from om th the e up uppe perr left left.. The pa path th is not not nece necess ssar aril ily  y  linearr, thoug linea though. h. On your way way,, you can jump back and forth as intui intuition tion tells you.  Y  You ou have already learned about conversation flow flow,, active listening and identifying keywords. keywords. You are now adding po powerful werful questions to your toolbo too lboxx of coaching coaching skil skills ls.. Ask Askin ing g po power werful ful quest question ionss is a val valuab uable le coaching skill and one that can be improved with practice.

Crit Cr itic ics s are are sayi saying ng  When first exposed to pow powerful erful q questions, uestions, your coachee or team members might think: “ think:  “What What the heck is this guy up to?”  Especially  Especially if you are asking miracle questions. You may also personally feel a bit uncomfortable ab le us usin ing g th thes ese e ki kind nd of ques questi tion ons. s. We re reco comm mmen end d that that yo you u re revi view ew yo your ur questions during and after the discussion, thinking t hinking back to which questions resulted in interesting and worthwhile answers and which questi tion onss se seem emed ed to brea break k the the flo flow w or pe perh rhap apss even even offe offend nd th the e ot othe herr pe pers rson on.. Especially questions from the anthropologist perspective are usually  gro roun unde ded d in th the e be beli lief ef th that at beh behin ind d an any y ac acti tion on,, th the ere ar are e go good od intentions. 7 Not everybody believes in this postulate and we must admi ad mitt th that at we al also so reg egul ular arly ly ha have ve to rem emin ind d ours oursel elve vess ab abou outt it. it.

Nevertheless, taking this approach will let you help people reflect as  well as help solving s olving conflicts.  Y  You ou may also find it useful to remember that in any given situation, people try to do the best they can with the information and tools they have.  We  W e will return to the the Prime  Prime directive of retrospectives  by   by Norman Kerth in sec. 6.4. 7 As stated by Humberto Maturana, one of the founders of the Systemic Theory Theory..

 

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

 While powerful questions are useful, they are not a silver bullet. For example, we sometimes run across teams that feel pow powerless, erless, suppressed, oppr op pres esse sed d or vi vict ctim imiz ized ed.. Th They ey ma may y be st stuc uck k co comp mpla lain inin ing g ab abou outt the the pa past st and refuse to move on to imagining a future.  “Yes, we tried something  like that four years ago and it didn’ didn’tt work. work.”  ”  There  There are strategies for dealing with such teams, such as arranging a quick win in some area just to show that change can indeed happen or enlisting managers to help (although often the managers are part of the problem).

Try this this 1. Thin Think k of a po poss ssib ible le co coac achi hing ng si situ tuat atio ion. n. It ca can n eith either er be wi with th a team team or with a person one on one. It might be a coaching conversation  you already had with someone or you may be preparing for an upcoming coaching situation. Try walking around in the Karl T Tomm omm model and formulate question tionss from from th the e fo four ur di diff ffer eren entt pe pers rspe pect ctiv ives es.. Form ormul ulat ate e at leas leastt th thre ree e questions in each dimension. You might have to imagine the answers you will get in order to formulate new questions. Next, practice asking powerful questions in live coaching situation tionss. You ca can n al also so us use e th them em in situ situat atio ions ns you you wo woul uld d not not norm normal ally  ly  consider to be coaching situations, like in Daily Scrum for example. 2. When you are in a suitable coaching coaching conve conversatio rsation, n, spend some

extra effort at the begi beginnin nning g of the conversati conversation on separatin separating g facts from interpretations. interpretations. Write statements and keywords on stickies and put them on a Karl Tomm model on a whiteboard. Ask question tionss th tha at he help lp you un unde ders rsta tan nd wh whet ethe herr a st stat atem eme ent is a fac fact or an assumption and recategorize the stickies as necessary necessary.. “The PO moved a difficult backlog item from their backlog to ours”  is a fact, while   “the PO did it because he thinks the other team  doesn’t doesn ’t like difficult backlog items”  would  would be an interpretation. Coaching Fundamentals

 

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Chapter 4

Coaching Coachi ng conv convers ersatio ations ns  with a team

In the previous chapters, we covered the basics of systemic coaching, such as how to listen and keep a conversation flowing without actually  steering it; how to open up a new coaching conversation and guide it to closure; and how to formulate questions so that the coachee provides the content while you provide the structure. As you start getting the feel for how to run coaching conversations with individuals, you can move on to having coaching conversations with teams. Coaching Coachin g teams is far more compl complex ex than coaching coaching individuals. individuals. You probably already have guessed that. When coaching a whole team, you need to focus on more than one person; you need to be aware of the perspectives and intentions of several people; and you need to master both bo th st stee eeri ring ng the the co conv nver ersa sati tion on to towa warrds a goal goal,, lett lettin ing g ea each ch of them them ha have ve airtime and help the team finding consensus. Tough job, isn’t it?

 Well, Don  Well,  Don t Panic , eve even n thoug though h the go going ing gets gets tou tough. gh. In this cha chapte pterr,  we will introduce you to some tools and techniques that you can use in team conversations conversations..

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Brid ridging ging questi estion ons s

 While the the powerful  powerful questions  we   we discussed in the previous section are useful for “opening the box” and creating progression throughout a disCoaching conversations with a team

 

 

Figure 4.1: Bridging questions

cussion, the intention of  bridging  bridging questions  is   is to collect thoughts and ideas and to build a common understanding in the team.

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In team coaching conversations, bridging questions gather information and conclusions and help the team find and expand on a common agreem agr eement ent.. The They y build, so to speak speak,, a bridge bet betwe ween en the diffe differe rent nt team members’ attitudes, experiences, opinions and suggestions. They  bring out new information and help resolve conflicts.  Y  Your our ability to use bridging questions is the first step towar towards ds mastery of  team coaching conversations. conversations. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

The idea idea behi behind nd Brid Bridgi ging ng Ques Questi tion ons s One of the the major challenges in newly formed teams is making decisions. Good decisions require the right amounts of exploration, dissent, analysi ana lysiss and eff effort ort.. So Some me teams teams can tak take e a very lon long g tim time e to get this right. There are several ways in which the decision-making process can go  wrong. One common issue is that the team starts digging into the first reasonable solution instead of exploring options, thereby limiting their solu so luti tion on sp spac ace. e. Peo eopl ple e ca can n so some meti time mess take take cri criti tici cism sm of an idea idea ve very ry pe perrsonally sonal ly and start defendi defending ng that idea beyond beyond what is rea reasonab sonable. le. Another common problem occurs when two or more persons each have individua indi viduall agen agendas das to drive drive.. Hav Having ing a stron strong g opinion and being vocal about it doesn’t doesn’t mean that the opinion is the best.  As a great team coach, you must ensure that all members take part in the convers conversati ation on and contr contribu ibute te to the solu solutio tion. n. Thr Throug ough h the use of  bridg bri dgin ing g qu ques esti tion ons, s, yo you u can cr crea eate te st stro rong ng link linkss be betw twee een n th the e team team me memmbers by linking the ideas generated by them. You do this by formulating  questions that nudge members relating their answers to what  was previously said byteam others, insteadinto of just pursuing their own agenda. Some examples: •  “What similarities do you see in what different people are saying  here?” 

•   “In wha whatt way do the things Paul is speaking about link to your interest in the subject? What can you add to this?”  •   “I “In n wha hatt way are yo you u in insp spir ired ed whe hen n you he hear ar th thee other therss discu iscuss ss th the  e  subject?”  •   “Is ther theree something you feel that the others have forgo forgotten tten in their  discussion?”  •   “In which way can you see that your thoughts are aligned with  other oth er peopl people’ e’ss opi opinio nions? ns? In whic which h wa wayy do your thoug thoughts hts diffe differ  r   from the others’ opinions?”  Coaching conversations with a team

 

 

For example, example, we once encountered a team with a very respected, skilled and resourceful developer who was also a strong open source advocate. His pe pett fe feat atur ure e wa wass to main mainta tain in co comp mpat atib ibil ilit ity y wi with th a simi simila larr op open en sour source ce project, even though this played no role in the company’ company’ss strategy. strategy. He  would inject backlog items and add tasks related to this project (e.g. “Ma Main inta tain in co comp mpat atib ibil ilit ity y with with XML XML sc sche hema ma ch chan ange gess in OS OSS S pr proj ojec ect” t”)) an and d  while the team grumbled a little litt le they did not speak out. The PO did not have enough technical knowledge to see what was happening. By the use of bridging questions, we made him aware that most people on the tea team m di did d no nott en enjo joy y the ext extra ra work work and in fact fact tthou hought ght it a b bit it si silly lly..  After a few rounds of this he came to the conclusion that it was time to drop the topic. As a result the team became more focused and their throughput increased markedly to the happy surprise of the PO.1  We have also seen teams where people don  We don’’t respond much to bridging questions, saying things like “I don’t know,” or “Nothing comes to mind..” Som mind Sometime etimess they are just indiffer indifferent, ent, sometimes sometimes afra afraid id of rocking the boat, and sometimes they are genuinely unable to come up with anything. anyth ing. This could indi indicate cate that you are working with a workgro workgroup up or pseudo-team that lacks synergy and heedfulness, something we will discuss discu ss further in sec. 5. But there ar are e also ways of creat creating ing peer pressure within a discussion by drawing on people’s feelings and emotions. In the next section we will explain how you can do that.

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Reflecting Refle cting particip participants ants Some team members might not have a strong opinion about a certain topic, so they might choose to be passive in a team discussion and let two or three strong minded members drive their own arguments. This has several several problem problems. s. Sin Since ce some of the expertise no now w lies latent, the te team am ris risks ks re reac achi hing ng a pr prem emat atur ure e co conc nclu lusi sion on an and d the the pa pass ssiv ive e team team me memmbers are not helping resolve the conflicts either. either. 1 W  We e also like open source software but we think focus is more important.

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

 A great team coach can invite tthe he passive participants into the conversation by asking them to reflect on what the strong-minded members have said: •   “Wha “Whatt do you espe especia cially lly like like abou aboutt the idea ideass of Pete Peter? r? Paul? Paul? and  Mary?”  •   “When Peter and Paul ar aree arguing so strongly for each of their dif ferent opinions, which similarities do you see in their opinions that  they might not see?”   A reflecting participant can also provi provide de a strong contribution for solvs olving a conflict: •   “When you experience that Paul a and nd Mary are hav having ing this conflict, how does it make you feel? How do you think the others feel?” 

This relies on the that people are animals and as such su ch approach re relu luct ctan antt to upse upset t ot othe hers rsfact in th the e “tri tribe be””. Peo eopl ple esocial wh who o keep ke ep distr distres essi sing  ng  or an ange geri ring ng othe others rs ar are e ge gene nera rall lly y go goin ing g to be push pushed ed to towa warrds the the frin fringe ge of  the soc social ial gro group up..2 In preh prehis isto tori ric c ti time mess th this is wo would uld ha have ve a ne nega gati tive ve im impa pact ct on your chances of surviving and finding a mate and thus the asocial

tendencies would mostly be bred out of the population. In modern times, people often belong to multiple “tribes”, either permanently mane ntly or for a shorter time. time. This could include include family family,, child childhood hood friends, old classmates, neighbours, hobbyist groups, various fan clubs and, of course, teams at work. As coaches, we can exploit the social glue in a workgroup to help the group come to a joint conclusion in the way   we just outlined above. 2 W  Watch atch out for bullies, narcissists and other sociopaths. They instead form the core

of such groupings and survive by exploiting this tendency in others. Coaching conversations with a team

 

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The D model

Back in sec. 3.6, we looked at Karl Tomm’s approach as a way of generating erati ng pow powerful erful questi questions ons.. We can also look at it as a comp complete lete path through throu gh a team coachi coaching ng conversation conversation.. We would apply the coaching  conversation structure from sec. 3.5, keep the discussion flowing using  active listening and use the powerful questions to create a coherent direction in the discussion. This ap This appr proa oach ch wo work rkss we well ll en enou ough gh fo forr us to use use it as the the “de defa faul ult” t” in many  many  coachi coa ching ng conve conversa rsatio tions ns.. It wor works ks esp especi ecially ally wel welll in situat situation ionss of conflic conflict, t, because a large part of the discussion is spent on discovering facts togeth ge ther er an and d cr crea eati ting ng a co comm mmon on un unde derst rstan andi ding ng that that in incl clud udes es diff differ eren entt in in-terpretations. It also works well if the team is aware of some pain point, but cannot formulate what it is. However, while Karl Tomm’s model is good at digging into the past, it is not as good at dreaming dreaming up ambi ambitious tious goal goals. s. In this sectio section n we would like to introduce another path through a coaching conversation that we call ca ll the the 5D Model odel.. Th The e 5D mo mode dell he help lpss th the e team team ch choo oose se or fo form rmul ulat ate e th the e problem to be addressed; share past experiences that might be worth trying; explore what a great solution could look like; define the stepping  stoness towar stone towards ds this solution solution;; and decid decide e who is doin doing g what. It can be espe es pec ciall ially y us usef efu ul if th the e te tea am has has fo foun und d a pr pro obl blem em th that at th the ey wan antt to solv solve e

either in an ad hoc discussion or in a separate retrospective meeting. The 5D Model The odel,, sh sho own in fig fig.. 4.2, 4.2, is ro root oted ed in appr apprec ecia iati tive ve in inqu quir iry y th that at we ment me ntio ione ned d bri briefl efly y in se sec. c. 3.2. 3.2. It co cons nsis ists ts of five five ph phas ases es:: Defin Define, e, Di Disc sco ove verr, Dream, Design and Deliver. You can run this as a guided discussion, or  you can plan exercises to draw out the best ideas.

Define In th this is ph pha ase se,, we de defin fine e th the e to topi pic c we wo woul uld d like like to devel evelop op in th thiis coa oac ching conversati conversation. on. This phase is somew somewhat hat simila similarr to establ establishin ishing g the 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Figure 4.2: The 5D Coaching Model

contract in a classi contract classic c coac coaching hing conve conversati rsation. on. We descri describe be the devel developopment area through “transforming questions” — questions that have a special speci al powe powerr of chan change ge design designed ed in. In contr contrast ast to probl problem-s em-solvin olving  g  questions, transforming questions are constructive and positive and fo-

cus on the goal rathe ratherr than the prob problem, lem, as illust illustrated rated by the following  following  example: • Problem-solving question: question: “How  “How do we prevent our meetings from  being so boring and unimportant?”  • Trans ransformi forming ng questi question: on:   “How do we create dedicated meetings  that help us realize the improvements we have set as goal?”   As you can see, the basic principle here is to base the questions on the situation that you want to achieve rather than the situation you want to Coaching conversations with a team

 

 

avoid. Problem-s avoid. Problem-solvin olving g question questionss are not wron wrong g as such, but they can drain the energy from the team. In our experience, team coaching discussio cus sions ns ben benefit efit fro from m “dr dream eaming ing big big””. Be ambit ambitiou iouss and stretc stretch h thi thiss goa goall by making it lofty, so that the questions will give constructive leverage later in the conversation.

Discover In this phase, you explore the past experiences of the team members  with a focus on successful events and incidents. The purpose is to describe and explain the contexts that illustrates the best practice of the team members. It is important that the questions are as specific as possible. Because the team is focusing on the things where they have succeeded,  we are already fostering the positive effect of the problem solving in this phase.. If the team has little or no prior positi phase positive ve experie experiences nces rela related ted to the topic, ask the team members to think of other teams that have succeeded ceede d in similar situat situations ions.. This can incl include ude teams that some of the members have been a part of in the past or neighbouring teams in the same company or competing companies or perhaps something from a book or article.

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 As a coach, you can use multiple tools to facilitate and drive the workshop. If you run this as a discussion, remember to regularly sum up the experiences experi ences the team is talkin talking g about. You can also facil facilitate itate a Brainstorming exercise with stickies, or the Brainwriting variant that also activates silent members. If the group is large (15+ people) you could run a quick World Café.  Y  You ou can also split the team and give the groups different targets, e.g. one group to ideate and list mainstream ideas; one to work on the loftiest, most inspiring inspiring ideas; one to come up with the weir weirdest dest possible ideas; one on e on an anti ti-i -ide deas as (o (one ness th that at pr prev even entt yo you u from from achi achiev evin ing g yo your ur go goal al); ); an and d 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

so on. Ma Make ke pre presen sentat tation ionss or a galle gallery ry walk at the end to spre spread ad the knowledge around.

Dream Having a common picture of the ideal situation for the team in the foreseeable future is a very powerful tool. It helps the team keep on track as they th ey a are re impr impro ovi ving ng.. Her ere e th the e fo focu cuss is on th the e fu futu ture re an and d the the team team’’s de desi sire re for ideal practices practices or an ideal situatio situation. n. If ““drea dreamin ming g of the perfect future” feels too fuzzy or idealistic, you can instead use terms like “vision ture” “vision”” or “ideas”.  At this stage, you should strive to create a playful and welcoming atmosphere — a “ yes, “ yes, and ” mindset — so that team members gradually become bolder as they experience the friendly welcome of their ideas and imaginat imag inations ions.. It is ther therefor efore e impo important rtant to avoi avoid d negative negative repli replies es or re jection of a team member member.. Instead draw inspiration and build on top of  the ideas of others, providing more details and offshoots of each other’s imaginations. imagination s. All ideas are welcome.  With minor changes, many tools from the Discov Discover er phase also work well in the Dream phase. phase. If you facilita facilitate te a conv conversati ersation, on, try using bridg bridging  ing  questions to build a common understanding. You can also have multi-

ple groups work on different perspectives on the same issue (for example People/Pro People/Process/P cess/Produc roduct) t) and merg merge e their result results. s. You can also try  the Park Bench or Fish Bowl exercises exercises..

Design Based on the wishes for the future and the best experiences of the past,  we now examine which of the possible future situations will be of particularr relevan ticula relevance ce to the team. We help the team define what approach or approaches they should focus on. Again, it is important to keep the  wording as concrete and action-oriented as possible. Coaching conversations with a team

 

 

Deliver In this final phase, the goal is to define the actions and plans of action to achieve the objectives. The responsibility is defined, so it is clear to everybody everyb ody who is doing what and when when.. This clari clarificati fication on should be explicit and detailed, so no one is in doubt about his or her role in the near future future.. It should also be agreed agreed about when to follo follow w up, so the implementation can be secured and supported. The concept of SMART actions3 can be helpful. Som omet etim imes es we fin find d th that at team teamss ar are e ne nerv rvou ouss ab abou outt goin going g fo forw rwar ard d wi with th th the e concepts conc epts they have Dre Dreamed amed and Desig Designed. ned. The conce concepts pts look good on paper, but reality strikes when they start drawing up concrete action plans.. Thro plans Throughou ughoutt the Desi Design gn and Deliv Deliver er phases, keep an eye open for uncertainty uncertainty.. Fo Forr example, example, we have found it useful to ask the team memb me mber erss to indi indivi vidu dual ally ly ju judg dge e ho how w su sure re th they ey ar are e ab abou outt the the pr prop opos osal al.. We ask them to think of a number from 0 to 10, where ten means absolute certainty and zero means that they really can’t say anything, then raise that number of fingers. If it tu turn rnss ou outt that that th the e team team feel feelss ge gene nera rall lly y un unce cert rtai ain n ab abou outt the the pr prop opos osal al,, ask them what would increase the score. If there are different opinions in the team, ask what makes people sure and what makes them unsure.

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If they still feel uncertain, help them create time limited safe to fail ex peri pe rime ment ntss. Th The e outc outcom ome e of the the ac acti tion onss wi will ll th then en be lear learni ning ng and and kno knowlwledge. The 5D model is a powerful and effective communication structure because it breaks the way we usually think of impro improvem vements ents.. By anchor anchor-ing the discussion in what in what has actually worked  instead  instead of what does not  work, we can increase motivation and enthusiasm and pave the way for future learnings. 3 SMAR SMART T = Specific, Specific, Measurable Measurable,, Achievable Achievable,, Relevant Relevant and Timely Timely.. See http://en. See  http://en.

 wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

The model does put a lot of responsibility on the facilitator, though. As  you will notice, guiding the team through the model takes some careful balancing between guarded optimism and, well, unguarded  well,  unguarded  optimism.  optimism. The “landing curve” from Dream into Delivery can be tricky, especially  if the team you are coaching has been conditioned over the years not to rock the boat. Make sure to help them out: talk to the managers; drop some words in the right places; bring the stakeholders’ attention to the right issues.

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Try this

1) Re Reflec flectt on the benefi benefitt of bridging bridging que questi stions ons — ho how w can you see  yourself using them in practice? Formulate one or two bridging  questi que stion onss tha thatt you can use in gen genera eral. l. Memoriz emorize e the them m and try  them out when you have the next opportunity to do so. 2) Think about an u upcoming pcoming discussion where ther there e might be an argument between two or more people. This might be a retrospective or perhaps a backlog refinement or sprint planning meeting,  where you know that people will promote different approaches.  Who of the other participants could you involve through a bridg-

ing qu ing ques esti tion on?? (If th ther ere e ar are e no none ne,, yo you u ma may y wa want nt to invi invite te a co coup uple le of  peer pe ers, s, fo forr ex exam ampl ple. e.)) Pr Prep epar are e a co coup uple le of bridg bridgin ing g qu ques esti tion onss aime aimed d at different different people people.. Write the questions down, down, then try them out in the meeting. 3) The Karl T Tomm omm and 5D m models odels are best practiced when you have an actual open conversation conversation with a team, for example in a retroretrospective. Prepare by drawing one of the models on a flip-chart (look at fig. 3.5 or fig. 4.2 for the general layouts) and reflect on which questions you could ask the team in each of the phases. Coaching conversations with a team

 

 

Bring the flip-chart to the retrospective, give the team a short introduction to the model and use it during your conversations. Document your journey through the model by writing stickies and an d pu putt ttiing th them em on th the e fli flip p-cha -chart rt.. Poi oin nt out to the the te team am  whenever you change phase in the model.

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Chapter 5

Team eam dyna dynami mics cs

Information systems today (and indeed the last 50+ years) are just too large for one singleblocks softwa software engin engineer eeroftostable, handl handle. e. Eve Even n though westacks have excellent building inrethe form low-cost software — operating operating systems, standar standard d libraries, libraries, datab databases, ases, etc. — it turns out that we need a whole team and often several teams to get stuff done in a reasonable time, time, before the customer grows grows tired or the market moves on. Having more people around brings a number of positive side effects. More people means more ideas and this gives us a wider source of potential solutions. Team members can become sparring partners, helping each other improve in their craft and reviewing each others work to improve impro ve the quality quality.. The team can, as a whole, co cover ver a larger experience and an d ex expe pert rtis ise e ar area ea th than an an any y on one e si sing ngle le de deve velo lope perr an and d they they also also ha have ve be bettter opportunities to share and spread the workload.

But teams can also suffer from communication and synchronization problems probl ems.. The more peo people ple and roles you have have,, the long longer er it takes for inform inf ormati ation on to dis dissem semina inate te and deci decisio sions ns to be ma made de.. So Some me peo people ple find it diffic difficult ult to work togeth together er.. Ther There e are egos that need satisfac satisfaction tion and people who drive their own agendas. agendas. Teamw eamwork ork does not happen by itself. In our our ex expe peri rien ence ce,, su succ cces essf sful ully ly ad adop opti ting ng the the me mech chan anic icss of Sc Scrum rum  will generally give any workgroup a 15–30 % increase in productivity productivity.. This comes from focusing on the content (delivering running tested softwa sof tware re)) rat rather her tha than n the con contai tainer ner (pr (proje oject ct pla plans ns,, wor work k br break eakdo down wn Team dynamics

 

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structures,, gant structures ganttt charts, hourly report reports, s, bug statistics) statistics).. Basi Basically cally,, the team starts doing the right things and doing them right. From a traditional perspective, a 15 % increase in productivity is simply  incredibl incr edible. e. A traditional traditional manager would kill for that kind of improveimprovement! men t! But tho those se teams are stil stilll lackin lacking g syner synergy gy.. By car carefu efully lly nurt nurtur ur-ing your team past the initial formation stage, by letting them collaborate and gain trust and start demanding mutual accountability, you can grow gro w where a highhigh-perform performance ance team.are Ev Even en inasstrictl strictly tradition traditional al organi organizazations Scrum and Kanban seen somey kind of weird process used only in R&D, we find teams that continue to ramp up productivity  by 20–50 % year after year.  Again, this does not happen by itself. It requires a dedicated line manager, a skilled Product Owner, an effective ScrumMaster and, of  course cou rse,, a tea team m tha thatt is willi willing ng and allo allowe wed d to rise to the cha challe lleng nge. e. In this chapter we will explore the concept of groups, pseudo-teams and high-performing teams and how you, as a coach, can help people move them from one to the other.

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Synergy in teams

In the movie “Cast Away”, Tom Hanks plays the character of Chuck  Noland. As the title implies, Chuck is stranded on a desert island. But he is not alone: he has a companion, Wilson, in the form of a volleyball! Unfortunately, Wilson is of the silent type and does not offer much help he lp.. Eve ven n th thou ough gh Ch Chuc uck k is ve very ry re reso sour urce cefu full an and d in inno nova vati tive ve — he extracts a bad tooth with a skate, among other things — he is never able to achieve more more than his own effort and ingenu ingenuity ity can provid provide. e. Chuck  Noland is solely one man, not a team.  What if we have several people? A group of people, for example, standing at a bus stop, still can not achieve more than the sum of the effort 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

from each person. person. In a work working ing group group,, people typic typically ally have a prof profesessional relationship and exchange information related to their work, but they do this only in order to achieve their individual goals. People at a bus stop exchange information about when the next bus will arrive, but  will use this information to optimize their own journey and use of time, sometimes to the point of competing for the limited space in the bus. A   working group lacks synergy. synergy.  At the other extreme extreme,, a Formula One team running a pit stop is a great example exam ple of synerg synergy y. Their Their shared goal is to win the grand prix and in order ord er to do that they need to get a top posit position ion in the race today today.. Thus thei th eirr immedi ediat ate e ta tarrge gett is to get get th the e F1 car car ou outt of the the pi pitt st stop op as quic quickl kly y as humanly possible. Because of this shared goal, as well as having agreed on ro role less an and d pr proc oced edur ures es,, they they a are re able able to to ac achi hiev eve e mo more re th than an if th they ey w wer ere e  working as individuals in a group group.. Everyone in the team collaborates to get the car movi moving ng again. The team consists of experts, not speci specialists alists.. (A specialist only specializes in one thing, while an expert can have expertise in many many areas areas.) .) If a team member is havin having g problem problems, s, others  will step in and help. It doesn doesn’’t matter who does the job as long as it gets done quickly and efficiently efficiently.. The difference between a team and a working group is synergy  is  synergy . Individ-

uals can t achieve synergy for the obviou obviouss reasons. Groups don t have synergy by definition. Only when a group has worked together towards a shared goal for long enough to jell together can we call them a highperforming perform ing team team.. But what is this “jelli “jelling” ng”?? Ho How w do you recognize recognize it?  And how do you make it happen?  We would like to refer to an important article by Weick and Roberts  We (1993) (19 93).. As the they y stu studie died d tea teams ms that perf perform orm well in cha challe llengi nging ng envi envi-ronments, they noted that the synergistic effects are born in interpretain  interpretations and actions . Team members contribute to the goals by acting according to their own interpretations of the situation and recent events. Obviously if team members have different understandings of the situation and the goal, no synergy is possible. possible. But if their interpretati interpretations ons Team dynamics

 

 

Figure 5.1: Synergy in teams

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are aligned so that they support and supplement each other, then the contributing actions will also converge and give synergistic effects. The  whole collective activity system s ystem of habits, actions, signals and reactions becomes greater than the sum of its parts. For example, one team that we coached dug up an old Nabaztag 1 and hacked it so that for each commit, it would run different kinds of static and dynamic analysis on the new code and then publicly announce  what it thought of it. If the rabbit gave negative feedback, other team members would tease the hapless author but then generally help her 1 An internet-connected plastic rabbit with ears that could be rotated remotely remotely.. Yes,

 you read that correctly. correctly. Look it up. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

out. Soo Soon n people started to conf confer er with others or work in pairs before before committin comm itting g code, in order to get kudos from the “Killer “Killer Rabbit Rabbit””. What started as a nifty hack became a cornerstone in the team’s attempt to strengthen the habit of writing good code.  Weick and Roberts note that this kind of social intelligence requires a  Weick certain certai n level of  heed    heed  in   in the group mem members bers.. He Heedfu edfull people are attentive, tiv e, obs observa ervant, nt, car carefu eful, l, re respe spectf ctful ul an and d hel helpfu pfull to towar wards ds others others.. The mor more e heedfulness in tr the system, the more developed the collective mind will be.. It ca be can n ev even en tran ansc scen end d th the e in indi divi vidu dual als, s, me mean anin ing g th that at th the e pa patt ttern ernss and an d habits hab its re remai main n whe when n ind indivi ividua duals ls co come me an and d go go.. Whe When n mem member berss star startt act act-ing out of habit or relying on luck, some of the collective intelligence is lost and performance degrades. From the perspective of agile coaching, the most important concept in the th e wh whol ole e ar arti ticl cle e is th that at on one e ca can n st strren engt gthe hen n and and ren enew ew th the e he heed edfu full in inte terrpretation and contribution patterns that form the collective mind. Weick and Roberts note that heedful teams tend to: • Make the p pattern atternss vi visible sible • Mo Model del a and nd di discuss scuss them

Reward reinfor reinforcing cing actions • Pre Preserve serve anec anecdotes dotes  Agile teams use working agreemen agreements, ts, a Definition of Done, team boards, team signals, information radiators, zero defect tolerance, build scripts etc. etc. to make things visible. As an agile coach, you are in a unique position to help them out in the daily standups and retrospectives. You can teachmeaningful them concepts like visual about management and automation, and facilitate conversations what they see. Of the surrounding roles, the ScrumMaster and the line manager are best be st po posi siti tion oned ed to se see e re rein info forc rcin ing g ac acti tion onss an and d give give re rewa ward rds. s. In the the “K “Kil ille lerr Rabb Ra bbit it”” ca case se we me ment ntio ione ned d ab abo ove ve,, th the e Sc Scru rumM mMas aste terr wa wass th the e on one e to drop drop Team dynamics

 

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the initial idea and the line manager was instrumental in helping the team find a solution that was compliant with the IT security guidelines. The same same people can also hel help p the team form a collec collectiv tive e his history tory.. A  scratched snowboard carefully leaning against an old server or a dusty, unopened magnum champagne bottle with an equally dusty and unopen op ened ed cong congra ratu tula lato tory ry card card ar are e ea each ch telli telling ng thei theirr se sepa para rate te sto storie ries. s. If th this is soundss like te sound team am ide identity ntity and cu cultur lture. e. . . it is is.. If it so sounds unds li like ke it wi will ll be difficult diffic ult in a distribu distributed ted team. team... . you you’’re right right,, again.

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Team development and perfo per forma rmanc nce e models models

Team formin forming g and perform performance ance does not happen by itself. You cannot form a team by placing 5–9 persons in a room and shouting “SELFORGANIZE!” as you close the door. Given a moderately healthy environment and time to work together, a group of people will generally start collaborating to achieve better perform fo rman ance ce.. This This ca can n ta take ke a long long ti time me,, ho how wev ever er,, an and d not not all all gr grou oups ps will will ge gett

there in the end. Ther there There e might be inco incompati mpatible ble persona personalitie litiess or people people  who simply do not get along. A skilled coach can guide groups past the  worst pitfalls and help them build a well-performing team much faster than they could do it on their own. In the the 196 960’ 0’ss, Bru ruce ce Tuc uck kman (1 (19 965 65)) in intr tro odu duc ced a model del fo forr understanding the development of teams. The model is interesting for agile coaches, because if we can identify the stage of the team, then we can determine what interactions with the team would be appropriate. The model in its original form consists of four stages: Forming   — Group members are ge generally nerally attentive and well-beha well-behaved, ved, but self-focuse self-focused. d. The grou group p of people is looking for answ answers ers on 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

questions like: Who is in the team? What are we expected to do? How shall we do it? Who are we reporting to? Her ere e th the e ag agil ile e co coac ach h sh shou ould ld he help lp th the e team team me memb mber erss to get get to kno know  each other and clarify the basic terms, objectives, vision and values. Assum Assuming ing that these rem remain ain stable, stable, the team should mo move ve into Storming on their own. Storming  — The group members are starting to form opinions about each other. They are trying to establish a common understanding  of the the go goal als, s, ro role less an and d pr proc oced edur ures es,, bu butt have have ch chal alle leng nges es co coor ordi dina natting and resolving difficulties.

Her ere e th the e ag agil ile e co coac ach h sh shou ould ld wo work rk on di dive vers rsit ity y, di diss ssen entt an and d confl conflic ictt resolutio reso lution/di n/dissoluti ssolution. on. In other words words,, it is OK to have diffe differing  ring  opinions, but people need to learn how to constructively build on top of the contributions of others. Use bridging questions (see sec. 4.1) to help people understand  what others are thinking. T Team eam building exercises can be very useful at this stage and you could use exercises such as the Market of  Skills and Skills Matrix to help the team see what kind of people

the others are. Norming   — Members are starting to understand and accept the different fere nt workin working g habits in the team. The team starts establ establishin ishing  g  a common understanding, roles and procedures through self assessment sessme nt and agree agreement ments. s. The comm community unity wil willl be estab established lished and each individual will begin to accommodate herself.

Here the agile coach should encourage the development of the team-specific common understandings, roles, routines, etc. Help the team create working agreements, coding guidelines and pull policies. polic ies. Update the Definiti Definition on of Done and stream streamline line the task  boar bo ard. d. Help elp th the e team team bui build ld the their ir ide ident ntit ity: y: pi pick ck a team team nam name; e; enco en cour urag age e so some me fu fun n an and d si silli lline ness; ss; re reta tain in so souv uven enir irs; s; let let th them em Team dynamics

 

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rearrange their corner of the office; help them set up their own information radiators; etc. Performing  — A team in this stage can primarily concentrate on getting the job done, rather than thinking about procedures, cooperation and organizing. The cooperation is working well and there is less talk about process and self assessment.

Her ere e the Scr ScrumM umMast aster er or agi agile le focus coa coach ch on sho should uld hel help p enc encour ourage age  work performance through a excellence, further potentials, new goals and targets, etc. Note that this stage is very wide and doesn’t account for the presence (or lack) of synergy synergy.. It cov covers ers all worki working ng groups and teams that have established their roles and procedures and are now focusing mainly on the actual work. The performance can be low or high or anything in between.

Teams do not necessari necessarily ly progress progress linearl linearly y throu through gh the mode model. l. Tuckman noted that many teams skip the Storming stage altogether, going 

directly from Forming to Norming. Other teams can get stuck in Storming in g or Nor ormi ming ng.. An And d wh when enev ever er the the team team se setu tup p chan change gess (m (mem embe bers rs leav leave e or join) or the context changes (the team relocates or is transferred to another anot her departme department), nt), the team becomes a little less matur mature. e. It can, for example, drop from Performing back to Norming or even all the way to Forming. The agile coach should change her interactions to reflect this new situation. Resear Rese arch ch of team team pe perf rform orman ance ce co cond nduc ucte ted d by Jon Katz Katzen enba bach ch an and d Douglas Smith and described in their iconic book  The  The Wisdom Wisdom of T Teams  eams  (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993), shows how the performance of a team is impacted when a group of people develops from being a working group to a hi high gh-p -perf erform orman ance ce team team.. Ka Katz tzen enba bach ch an and d Sm Smit ith h de desc scrib ribe e th the e following followin g stages, also shown in fig. 5.2: 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Figure 5.2: Team performance

 Working  W orking group   — A working group is merely a group of people, for  which group performance is primarily dependent on individual cont co ntri ribu buti tion ons. s. Th The e wo work rkin ing g gr grou oup p is the su sum m of its pa parts rts but nothing more and there is little potential for improv improvement. ement.

Members do not take responsibility for results other than their own wn,, no norr do th they ey try to de deve velo lop p incr increm emen enta tall pe perf rfor orma manc nce e contributions requiring the combined, real work of two or more grou gr oup p me memb mber erss. In ot othe herr wo worrds ds,, th ther ere e is no syn syner ergy gy in th the e  working group. group. Pseudo-team   — This is a working gr group oup for which there could be a sigsignificant, incremental performance need or opportunity, but the Team dynamics

 

 

group either does not recognize this potential or is not interested or capable of working towards it. The typical pseudo-team is not focused on collective performance and is not trying to achieve it. It can be very discouraging to be part of a pseudo-team where the members memb ers are not intere interested sted in jelling. This can someti sometimes mes lead to a vicious cycle of mediocrity and stress, an ongoing state of  low productivity that we call the Valley of Despair (see the end of  sec. 5.3 for more information).  When coaching a working group or a pseudo-team, you should focus on fostering fostering a team identi identity ty.. He Help lp them crea create te a comm common on goall and als goa also o in intro troduc duce e opp opportu ortunis nistic tic col collab labor orati ation on where where it make ma kess sens sense e. Sh Sho ow th them em tha thatt co colla llabo bora rati tion on can be fu fun n an and d profitable individually (learning) as well as collectively (quality, perf rfo orm rma ance). Also help th the em visualiz lize their work and understand what is happening. Pote otentia ntiall tea team m   — Th This is is a gr grou oup p wi with th a si sign gnifi ifica cant nt,, in incr crem emen enta tall pe perf rfor or-manc ma nce e ne need ed th that at is in inte terres este ted d in im impr pro oving ving its its pe perf rfor orma manc nce e an and d is actively working to achieve this. Typically, the group would need

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more cl mor clar arit ity y ab abou outt purp purpos ose e, go goal alss or wo work rk prod produc ucts ts an and d mor more di disscipli cipline ne in hamm hammer erin ing g ou outt a co comm mmon on wo work rkin ing g ap appr proa oach ch.. IItt ha hass not not  yet established collective accountability. accountability.  When coaching a potential team, show them how easy it is to try  out new techn techniques iques and workin working g methods. methods. Fo Focus cus on impr improv oving  ing  the retrospectives and ensure that the team is in control of its  working agreemen agreements, ts, tools and processes. Ensure that they have simple but good metrics with both leading and lagging indicators so that they know when they are impro improving. ving. Real Re al tea team m  — This is a small number of people with complementary  skil sk ills ls wh who o ar are e eq equa uall lly y co comm mmit itte ted d to a co comm mmon on pu purp rpos ose e, goal goalss an and d  working approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

In order to become a high-performing team, the team needs to set up person personal al professi professional onal devel developme opment nt plans together together.. They   will also need to know how to give and take feedback. As a coach,  you can help them achieve this. High-perfo High -performing rming team   — This is a group that meets all the condi conditions tions of a rea reall team. In addit addition, ion, the member memberss are deeply commi committed tted to one another’s personal growth and success and new members

 will also join this commitment. The high-performing team significantly outperforms all other similar teams and also outperforms all re reaso asona nable ble exp expect ectati ations ons giv given en its mem member bershi ship p. In the perf perform orm-ing in g ph phas ase e th the e te team am ha hass rea eac ched hed sy syn nerg ergy an and d are are get etti tin ng a lo lott more ore out of their individual contributions.  We would like to mention that we especially like the Market of Skills  We team exercise, as it contains many components that are important for teams tea ms in the ear early ly Tuck uckma man n and Ka Katze tzenba nbachch-Sm Smith ith sta stages ges.. Thi Thiss is som someething we try to introduce in all teams that have worked together for less than a year. As a follow-up, the Skills Matrix helps people see collaboration opportunities, which is essential in pseudo-teams as well as poten-

tial teams. The Tuckman and Katzenbach-Smith models look very similar and we chose to draw them as parallel parallel tracks in fig. 5.2. This is not always the case. cas e. On One e cou could ld arg argue ue tha thatt the Katz Katzenb enbach ach-S -Smi mith th mo model del continue continuess  where the Tuckman model stops (with a bit of overlap). A forming  or storming team according to Tuckman can at most be a potential team in the Katzenbach-Smith model and what Tuckman considers a perf pe rfor ormi ming ng team team ma may y st stil illl be on only ly a ps pseu eudo do-t -tea eam m ac acco corrdi ding ng to Katzenbach-Smith. Furthermore, the Tuckman model is team-internal only and team formation can be strengthened regardless of the organization (assuming  of course course tha thatt th the e bu budd ddin ing g team team is no nott to torn rn apart apart all all th the e time time). ). Im Im-provements along the Katzenbach-Smith model are, however, strongly  Team dynamics

 

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dependent depend ent on the surr surroun oundin ding g org organi anizat zation ion and requi require re und unders erstan tandin ding  g  and an d su supp ppor ortt from from th the e Sc Scru rumM mMas aste terr, PO PO,, line line mana manage gerr an and d st stak akeh ehol olde ders rs.. For example, if the line manager keeps using new words but acts like always before, the team will notice this. Becoming a real team requires that each member is willing to take risks and trust the others. Where they previously had individual actions and separate work products, they will now have collective actions and joint  work products. They need to agree on a common purpose, set goals, decide on the approach, and take mutual accountability. There will be conflicts that need to be handled in constructive ways. People who call themselves teams but take no such risks are at best pseudo-teams.

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Challenges in forming teams

 As we mentioned earlier earlier,, teams do not “happen “happen”” by themselves. Even assuming that the different personalities on the team can get along, there can be multiple stumbling blocks along the way. According to the

book Effective Teamwork Teamwork ((W West, 2012), there are several challenges in forming teams, including:

Free-riding   — Free-ridin Free-riding g can happen when someon someone e realizes that his or her personal effort is no longer visible. With half a dozen other people doing hard work, nobody will notice if one person just “floats along”, right?

This wa This wass fir first st de desc scri ribe bed d by Maxim aximil ilie ien n Ri Ring ngel elma mann nn (191 (1913) 3) through a simple experiment in a rope pulling contest. When the test person is told that he has six strong firemen on his team, he  will pull less than if he believed he was one of the strongest. Ring Ri nge elm lma ann also lso fou ound nd th that at th the e in indi divi vid dua uall in inv vol olv veme ement decreases in larger groups. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Inefficient Inef ficient decisi decision-ma on-making  king   — Tea eam m deci decisi sion onss ar are e ha harrd to ma make ke.. Team decisions are usually better than the average individual decisions made by the team members, but worse than a decision made mad e by the mo most st bri brillia lliant nt team team membe memberr. Team deci decisio sions ns are highly influenced by the persons who speak first and loudest  within the team. These may be people who want individual recognition or promotion or managers who want the team to come to a specific decision. decision. Ther There e are many tools to reduc reduce e this influence, such as Roman Voting, Fist of Five and Planning Poker. Hogging Ho gging cre credit dit  — In a well-working team, the team as a whole takes responsibility for successes as well as failures. The road there can be bumpy, bumpy, however however.. Individual contributors can find it very challenging to trust other persons on the team if it can influence their own personal standing in the company.

In this context, hogging credit means to make sure that your own role in a success is emphasized or exaggerated (“Looks like the archit ch itec ectu ture re I dr drew ew up serv served ed us qui quite te we well ll”) ”),, wh whil ile e di dist stan anci cing ng yo your ur-self from failure (“I said we should check it with the customer,

but they didn didn’’t listen”). Credit-hogging can happen in private discussions cussio ns as well as in public com communi municatio cations. ns. It is often subtle and difficult to disprove, except to those who see it first hand: the team-mates. The challenges listed above are all internal  all  internal  to   to the team. team. But But ther there e are also external   cha chall llen enge ges. s. Ma Many ny orga organi niza zati tion onss ar are e, in fact fact,, se sett up in a wa way  y  that undermines or outright prevents the formation of high-performing  teams. Some factors include: Deep specia specializatio lization n  — A specialist has deep knowledge in one area,  which is usually quite narro narrow w. Specialists are not rewarded rewarded for help he lpin ing g ot othe hers rs an and d ca can n be re repr prim iman ande ded d if th they ey try try.. Th Ther eref efor ore, e, th they  ey  Team dynamics

 

 

have a tendency to focus on their own narrow area and are not used to collaborating. Specialization is a good survival strategy in mechanistically designed organizations and many managers are proud of the depth of knowledge in their teams.  As a coach, you will need to make people understand that being a gene ge nera rali list st or ex expe pert rt (i (in n ma many ny diff differ eren entt ar area eas) s) is an even even bett better er su surrvival strategy. strategy. Both the organization and the individual will benefit from having a wider profile of skills. Beli Be lief ef in he hero roism ism   — Wh When en a pr proj ojec ectt is be behi hind nd sche schedu dule le,, ma mana nage gers rs often oft en try to crea create te mor more e wor work k hou hours rs per day day.. Engin Engineer eerss get to spen sp end d lo long ng ev even enin ings gs an and d we week eken ends ds at th the e of offic fice e. Ot Othe herti rtime mess strict processes and decision hierarchies force people to bypass processes and do work under the radar in order to get things done in a reasonable time.

To make up for it, managers reward these just-get-it-done people  with public recognition, gifts and bonuses, sending everyone the

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message that heroism is highly valu message valued. ed. In the end, the whole organization believes that working overtime or bypassing processes is normal.  A coach would need to promote strict st rict timeboxes or WIP limits, as  well as sustainable development and team accountability accountability,, in order to expose the danger with heroism. Lack Lac k of tra transp nspar arenc ency  y   — In centrally directed organizations, inform inf ormati ation on oft often en flo flows ws fro from m the ope operat rative ive lay layers ers inw inwar ards ds or upwards, while the outwards or downwards flow consists mainly  of decisions. decisions. Inf Informati ormation on may even be withheld from operati operative ve personnel by the central layers.

Lackin Lack ing g br broa oade derr in info form rmat atio ion, n, pe peop ople le ar are e un unab able le to make make go good od de de-cisions and will instead push their own opinions and agendas. In  

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

those kind of systems, politicians who talk smoothly and know   what information to share with whom will prosper prosper.. Central systems are also slow to respond, although they are good at retaining  standardization. Creating Creat ing vis visibi ibility lity and tra transp nspar aren ency cy is imp importa ortant. nt. Prese Presenti nting ng work  work  progress in a central obeya (war room) can be very useful, especially if managers start using that room as a base for making decisions. Individua Ind ividuall incenti incentives ves  — Personal bonus plans make people work for thei th eirr own pr profi ofitt ra rath ther er th than an fo forr what what’’s be best st for for th the e wh whol ole e co comp mpan any y. For example, a developer may decline to help a teammate with a project-related problem because that project is not on her incentive plan. Another typical example is that a salesman sells a new  feature that turns out to be technically very challenging to implement.

 We  W e have found that replacing individual incentives with team incentives helps a lot. It is also a good idea to base incentives on ac-

tual outcomes and make them win-wins rather than guessworkbased metrics: “Deliver as quickly and cheaply as possible” rather than th an “De Deli live verr by Oc Octt 15 an and d at a co cost st of maxi maximu mum m 1. 1.2 2 mill millio ion. n.”” We have seen that relative targets work better than absolute metrics: “Improve “Imp rove the lead time by 15 %” rather than “Reach a lead time of  8 days.” Salary Sal ary discr discrepanc epancies ies   — In ma many ny co comp mpan anie ies, s, sa sala lari ries es are are se sett on an indi indi-viduall basis. This mean vidua meanss that people are in fact rew rewarde arded d for ne-

gotiation skills rather than technical skills and for changing jobs rather than staying and withteamworking their teams. Managers may also be handcuffed by a limited increases budget, creating a situation where employees have to compete with each other for a rai raise se.. Thi Thiss is obv obviou iously sly a pro proble blem m for man manage agers rs as we well ll as for employees. Team dynamics

 

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Changi Chan ging ng an exis existi ting ng wage wage sy syst stem em in insi side de a larg large e co corp rpor orat atio ion n is go go-ing to be very difficult. difficult. Man Managers agers may find opp opportuni ortunities ties when setting settin g up new teams from scratc scratch. h. Many Many agile compan companies ies still retain opaque wages. There are also companies with transparent  wage systems. For more insights you may may,, for example, want to read “Joy, Inc.” by Richard Sheridan (2013).

Status Sta tus rewa rewards rds   — Where wage di discrepancies screpancies ar are e often kept secret, status rewards are more or less public. This can include such things as a personal corner office, a standing authorization to travel first cl clas ass, s, a na name med d pa park rkin ing g place. place. . . or ow owne ners rshi hip p of a re red d sta stapl pler er.. They may start out as reasonable allowances or have some historic background, but eventually take on a life of their own and become a source of friction between people.

 Agile companies take the status rewards off the table by making  the th e sa same me rew rewar ards ds av avai aila labl ble e to all all em empl plo oyees yees.. In case casess wh wher ere e supp su pply ly is inde indeed ed li limi mite ted, d, sh shar ared ed re reso sour urce ce po pool olss with with us usag age e

transparency usually work fine. fi ne. Manda Ma ndated ted cor corpor porate ate too tools ls  — While tools can be very useful, we find that they can also cause unin unintende tended d negativ negative e behavior behavior.. Fo Forr example, if your tool automatically assigns an owner to every backlog item or task, it could cause team members to focus more on their own tasks and thereby collaborate less. A tool that uses the term “requirement” instead of “backlog item” could increase the threshold thre shold for propo proposing sing changes. changes. And a cumberso cumbersome me tool with st stri rict ct ac acce cess ss co cont ntro roll mi migh ghtt res esul ultt in back backlo logs gs no nott bein being g up upda date ted d in

a timely manner. To fix this you can try to find a rea reasonab sonable le compromise compromise.. Fo Forr example, many teams maintain control of their work by moving the smallest level of detail (tasks that are measured in hours) out of  the tool and on to a physi physical cal task board board.. They mo move ve post-i post-its ts on a 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

daily basis and update the larger-scale items in the corporate tool  when necessary. necessary. Project Pro ject reso resourc urcing  ing   — One particularly comm common on problem is project rreesourcing, meaning the way teams are routinely disbanded after a proj pr ojec ectt and and re reas asse semb mble led d wi with th diff differ eren entt pe peop ople le fo forr th the e ne next xt proj projec ect. t. The Th e rea easo son n is th that at a team team ne need edss to inve invest st time time an and d effo effort rt in be beco comm-

ing a high-performing team. Both the Tuckman and KatzenbachSmith models assume that the group of people is stable for long  enough to make this investment. On the way to high performance, the team must go through the  Valley  Valley of Despair (see fig. 5.2), where much of the effort is spent on esta es tabl blis ishi hing ng the the pe peck ckin ing g or orde derr an and d copi coping ng with with di disse ssent nt an and d wher where e thei th eirr pr prod oduc ucti tivi vity ty is ev even en wo wors rse e th than an it wa wass at th the e st star art. t. Ge Gett ttin ing g be be- yond this can take a long time. The normal ttimespan imespan from starting out as a working group to becoming a high-performing team

is between six to twelve months.  Whenever you disband and re-form teams, they lose everything  they have invested in bonding and jelling with their team mates. Over time they learn that the process is not even worth starting. There is instead a high risk that they take permanent residence in the th e Val alle ley y of De Desp spai airr. This is no nott a gr grea eatt pl plac ace e to be. be. Unfor nfortu tuna nate tely ly,, many organizations are unaware of the magnitude of the proble lem m as they they ha have ve no sta stabl ble e an and d hi high gh-p -perf erform ormin ing g team teamss to comp compar are e against.

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Summary 

In this chapter, we discussed how teams differ from workgroups and we covered cover ed several different models for forming and developing teams and Team dynamics

 

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for identifying and avoiding common pitfalls. Team synergy and building up trust are so important that an agile coaching engagement can be considered an exercise in team building.  An agile coach continuously observes how people behave within the system and tries to change the system so that people can change their behavior for the better. In sec. 7 we will look at a structured method for improving teams.

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Try this

1) Choose a team you are working w with. ith. Obser Observe ve the team members both as individuals and as a group and assess the team using the Tuckman and Katzenbach-Smith models. Next, choose an exercise, a work habit or a topic to raise that may  help the team move move on to the next stage stage.. Valida alidate te your chain of  reasoning with the ScrumMaster, the Product Owner, the devel-

opment manager, and other stakeholders surrounding the team.  Apply it and reflect on the results. 2) Ob Obse serv rve e a team team yo you u ar are e cu curr rren entl tly y wo work rkin ing g wi with th.. Wh Whic ich h of the the ch chal al-lenges leng es listed in sec. 5.3 are most prom prominen inentt in the team? Why do they occur?

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Chapter 6

Coaching your team

By now we have covered what agile coaching is, talked about how to structu stru cture re an and d fac facili ilitat tate e coa coachi ching ng dis discus cussio sions ns wit with h ind indivi ividua duals ls and teams, discussed how groups of individuals can develop into teams, and how how to form a new agile tea team. m. Ne Next xt up, we will co cover ver some of the better-known agile and lean frameworks and think about how they  support agile coaching.

Figure 6.1: Inspect and adapt  Y  You ou will be coaching the team every time you meet them, but there Coaching your team

 

 

are subtle differences in what to focus on in the different meetings and events. even ts. Durin During g backlo backlog g refin refinemen ementt and sprint plann planning ing meeting meetings, s, you should focus on facilitating — helping the team and stakeholders make great product decisions. After the daily standups, however, you have a grea gr eatt op oppo port rtun unit ity y to grab grab five five or ten ten mi minu nute tess wi with th the the team team fo foll llo owi wing ng up on how they are doing short term. In the retrosp retrospectiv ectives, es, you can drive long term team questions.

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What is built into your framework?

The framework you have chosen supports coaching in certain ways. Scrum conveniently provides a number of pre-scheduled meetings and touch points with the team, so there is little to plan. Scrum al Scrum also so ha hass tw two o sp spec ecifi ific c role roless be besi side dess the the de deve velo lopm pmen entt team team,, namely nam ely the Scrum ScrumMa Maste sterr and the Prod Product uct Own Owner er.. Bot Both h of these are

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make and break roles. As the agile coach, your job will become difficult and you will lose precious time if one of the designated persons is unsuitable for the job or doesn doesn’’t have enough time to do it well. Kanban, on the other hand Kanban, hand,, doesn doesn’’t define any meeti meetings ngs or roles. We find that many teams pick up meetings from other agile methods and these generally fall in one of three categories:

1. Jus ustt-in in-t -tim ime e me meet etin ings gs:: ba back cklo log g re repl plen enis ishm hmen ent, t, co cont ntin inuo uous us improvement impro vement meetings, quality circles 2. Asynchronous cadences: daily standups, backlog refinement, refinement, retrospectives 3. Cadences synchronized with other teams: daily standups, release demos 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Just-in-time meetings are often scheduled on short notice — “hey, let’s refine a couple of backlog items after lunch today” — which can be difficult ficu lt if you are work working ing wit with h mul multip tiple le teams or mu multip ltiple le cli client ents. s. CaCadenced meetings on the other hand can be scheduled months in advance. vanc e. Fo Forr this reas reason, on, we have found it best to set up cadence cadenced d meetings in gs du duri ring ng the co coac achi hing ng perio period d al also so wh when en work workin ing g wi with th Ka Kanb nban an team teams. s. Each of these touchpoints bring together the whole team or a subset of  the team and provide a great opportunity for you to observe or interact  with them. Don Don’’t give them up too easily! New Scrum teams often think  that some of the built-in activities are obsolete or boring and want to skip them. If that happens, we suggest that you ground the discussion  with the team in the values and principles in the Agile Manifesto (“ (“Agile Agile Manifesto,” 2001). Together, figure out which values and which principles are behind each of the activities they want to skip. If the proposed change does not undermine those values and principles, just go for it. Oth ther erw wis ise e a be bett tter er opti optio on wou ould ld be to figu figure ou outt new an and d bett better er way ayss to meet the values and principles.

 When observing your team, it’ it’ss useful to look at team dynamics, what they talk about and the energy levels. We often use the following “cheat sheet” of questions, adapted from Lyssa Adkins (2010): • Is eve everyo ryone ne who wan wants ts to ge getti tting ng the tim time e to speak? speak? Ar Are e th ther ere e dominant people in the room who need to listen more? Are there quiet voices that want to be heard? • Are the ide ideas as of high qualit quality y or are people sim simply ply goin going g with the easiest solution? • Is the team mo moving ving to towar ward d the simple simplest st solutio solution n possib possible? le? Or are they going future-proof and gold plating it too? • Is the tea team m getting tired? Do they need a break? • Is the a atmosphere tmosphere g getting etting tense? Do they need need some co comic mic relief? relief? • Is the team being audacious eno enough? ugh? Do they come u up p with gr great eat idea id eass or br brea eak k th thro roug ugh h ba barri rrier ers? s? Or ar are e th they ey av avoi oidi ding ng taki taking ng a risk? risk? Coaching your team

 

 

• Are they tak taking ing on as much as they cou could ld or are they lettin letting g ““acaccepted” barriers get in the way? • Is the tea team m consi considerin dering g thing thingss in terms of cus custome tomerr value? Or in terms of their own effort? • Are the they y stuck? Do they nee need d a new perspe perspective ctive,, one that bring bringss them more possibilities?

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Figure 6.2: Making observations This is intended to be a starter kit of observation points. Keep this list of  observation questions handy, somewhere that you can quickly access it  when a conversation just happens around you. Over time, you will come up wi with th yo your ur own ob obse serv rvat atio ion n qu ques esti tion onss ar aris isin ing g from from what what yo you u ob obse serv rve e. For example, if you work with several teams in the same company, you  

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

may notice notice that they behave similar similarly ly.. Add your questi questions ons to this list and share them with fellow agile coaches.

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Daily standup

The da The dail ily y st stan andu dup p is a sh shor ortt-te term rm plan planni ning ng meet meetin ing. g. Al Alth thou ough gh the the me meet et-ing is not exclusiv exclusive e to agile method methods, s, it’ it’ss an integra integrall part of man many y agile methods including Scrum, Kanban and XP. For an agile coach, the daily meeting forms a great opportunity to observe the team and ask some coaching questions. Let the meeting run its course while you observe and listen, make notes and form hypotheses. While While ev every ery tea team m is diffe differen rent, t, th there ere are some items to ke keep ep in mind: mind:

• Situ Situation ation:: Does th the e team repo report rt to itse itself lf or the Scrum ScrumMast Master? er? Is the situation situation prese presented nted hone honestly? stly? Do they have facts and info inforrmation matio n in front of them? Is the granularity granularity rig right ht (tasks less than one day in length)? • Fo Focus: cus: Is the goal goal clear clear?? Is the tea team m focus focusing ing on g gettin etting g the next backlog item done, rather than ensuring everyone has work for the day? Is there a lot of bureaucratic overhead? • Spe peak akin ing: g: Do Does es eve everyo ryone ne ge gett th the e oppo opportu rtuni nity ty to speak? speak? Wh Who o speaks most, who is most silent? Do people listen intently or are they just waiting waiting for their own turn? Are peop people le supportin supporting g each other? • Deci Decision sion-mak -making: ing: Who m makes akes de decisio cisions? ns? Is it one one person person or the  whole team? Do they evaluate multiple options? Are decisions based on facts? If they make assumptions, do they go on to validate the decisions before investing time? • Lang Language uage:: Does the tea team m have thei theirr own ““slang slang”? ”? Does the bod body  y  language support the verbal message? Coaching your team

 

 

• Tru rust: st: Ar Are e th they ey sh sho owi wing ng res respe pect ct for for ea each ch ot othe herr an and d fo forr ot othe herr teams? tea ms? Ar Are e they hav havin ing g fun togeth together? er? Ar Are e they abl able e to bring up difficult topics? Are they showing courage?

Standups are also a good moment to evaluate team agreements, for example retrospective action points, daily goals, checking burndown charts char ts,, urge urgent nt ti tick cket etss or an any y ot othe herr th thin ings gs th the e team team ag agrree eed d to chec check k da dail ily y. If yo you u ha have ve so some meth thin ing g to di disc scus usss wi with th the the team team or ju just st want want to shar share e yo your ur observations, you can ask them to stay on for a few more minutes after the meeting. It’s It’s polite to make tthis his request before the meeting starts.

Try this this • Fo Focus cus on the work, work, not the worker. worker. Avoid asking asking each per person son on the team to give a status report; focus instead on the stories and

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• • •

•

priorities. Pa Pass ss a ball (or some token token)) aroun around d to indicat indicate e whose turn it is to speak and to add dynamics to the daily standup. Team members shou should ld be speaking and m making aking eye con contact tact with each other, not reporting to the ScrumMaster. If the team is not findi finding ng the meet meeting ing usef useful, ul, find the root cause and fix it, rathe ratherr than aban abandoni doning ng the meeting meeting.. Often the granu granu-larity of the tasks does not match the frequency of the meeting or people do not see the need to collaborate. Use a “pa parrki king ng lot lot” fo forr di disc scus ussi sion onss th that at ar are e to too o lo lon ng or do not con concern the whole team. Keep the stand-up focused, finish it on time

and then anyone who needs to continue the parked discussions can do so after the meeting is over. over. Anyo Anyone ne has the right to call “time out” out”.. • Tow owards ards the end of the meeting meeting,, ask question questionss like: “Whic “Which h story  are you going to finish next?” or “Do you have in front of you all the information you need to make good decisions?” 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

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Refinement and planning

The Sprint planning and backlog refinement meetings are strongly focused on product product questions questions.. Your role as an agile coach coach is initi initially ally to facilitate the meeting, helping the team and stakeholders have productive discussions and make good decisions about the product.  At the same time, you will show the ScrumMaster how to run a good plann pla nning ing mee meetin ting. g. Ove Overr tim time, e, as the tea team m learns learns what the pla plann nnin ing  g  meeting is about, coaching the ScrumMaster will become your primary  focus point. Eventually you can step back and let the ScrumMaster take the lead.  We would like to point out that an agile coach should not get involved in  We product design questions. The problems inherent in advising and consulting sultin g were discus discussed sed in sec. 2.2. You should help the team learn the tools and methods they need (coaching and training) and help them

bring out information information if necessary (facilitating (facilitating). ). You can also prov provide ide options if you receive a direct question, but it’s not your job to design the product.

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Retr Retros ospe pect ctiv ives es

 As we mentioned in the introductory chapter, this book is mostly about coachi coa ching ng and no nott so mu much ch abo about ut the agi agile le pra practi ctices ces.. Howe wever ver,, good good retretrosp ro spec ecti tive vess ar are e so im impo port rtan antt th that at we ha have ve de deci cide ded d to make make an exce except ptio ion n that proves the rule. Dur urin ing g a re retr tros ospe pect ctiv ive e team teamss in insp spec ectt an and d adap adaptt bo both th th thei eirr me meth thod odss an and d the way they work together as a team. In an iterative development approach like Scrum, a team runs retrospectives at the end of each iteration.. In a flow based approa tion approach ch like Kanban Kanban,, the cadenc cadence e for feedb feedback  ack  meetings is defined by the policies agreed on by the team(s), like, for instance, a bi-weekly Service Delivery Review Review.. Coaching your team

 

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The primary reason for digging deeper into the topic of retrospectives here is simply that they are a key charac characteristi teristic c of agile team teams. s. An ineffective team that continuously improves will, in the end, beat an effective team that doesn’t. All truly agile organizations that we are aware of  ta take ke th thei eirr re retr tros ospe pect ctiv ives es ve very ry seri seriou ousl sly y — so some meti time mess almo almost st to the the po poin intt of becoming becoming relig religious ious about them them.. If you do only one thing as an agile coac co ach, h, ma make ke su sure re it it’’s ge getti tting ng the the team team to run run effe effect ctiv ive e re retr tros ospe pect ctiv ives es an and d take responsibility for their own ways of working. Secondly Secon dly,, re retro trospe specti ctives ves ar are e key eng engage agemen mentt poi point nt for agi agile le coa coache chess and a great opportunity to use structured coaching conversations as discussed in sec. 3.5, sec. 3.6 and sec. 4.2. Thirdly, retrospectives are one of  the simpler ways of achieving continuous process improvement (CPI). This Th is in turn turn is ex expl plic icit itly ly me ment ntio ione ned d in Ag Agil ile e Pr Prin inci cipl ple e #1 #12: 2: “At re regu gula larr in in-tervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.”

Safety Saf ety first first Retrospectives are typically facilitated by a ScrumMaster or an agile coach. coa ch. The faci facilit litato atorr nee needs ds to est establ ablish ish a saf safe e en envir vironm onmen entt whe where re trust, trus t, tra transp nspar arenc ency y and ope openn nness ess allo allows ws eac each h per person son to con contrib tribute ute equally equal ly.. Whil While e alway alwayss rem remaini aining ng neutral in discu discussion ssions, s, the facilitato facilitatorr observes the room and the dynamics of the group, helping them reach the goal. It is impo importa rtant nt to un unde ders rsta tand nd tha thatt th the e re retr tros ospe pect ctiv ive e is ab abou outt learn learnin ing g an and d looking ahead, not about blaming and looking back. Norman Kerth has captured this intention perfectly in the the the  the prime directive of retrospectives : 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

“We un “We unde ders rsta tand nd and and tr trul uly y be beli lie eve th that at every eryon one e di did d th the e be best st job job th the ey cou ould ld,, given what they knew at the time, their skil sk ills ls an and d ab abil ilit itie ies, s, th the e res resou ourc rces es avai av aila labl ble, e, an and d th the e si situ tuat atio ion n at ha hand nd.” .” — No Norm rman an Ke Kert rth h This quote emphasizes the fact that people learn through trial and errorr. Th ro Ther ere e ar are e co comp mple lexx si situ tuat atio ions ns th that at ca cann nnot ot be solv solved ed in any any ot othe herr wa way  y  than th an by ac acti tion onss or ex expe perim rimen ents ts.. Th The e ou outc tcom ome e mi migh ghtt be obvi obviou ouss in hind hind-sight, where we always have 20/20 vision, but the prime directive helps us remember that it wasn’t so simple at the time. The quote continues:

“At the end of a pro rojject every ryo one knows

so much much mo more re.. Natu Natura rall lly y we wi will ll di disc scov over er deci de cisi ons an and acti ons s wto ew ish webr ec ou oul ld, do ovsion er. er . Tshis hi sd isac wtion isd sdom om be celeb el rat ated ed, nott judg no judgem emen entt us used ed to em emba barr rras ass. s.”” — No Norm rman an Ke Kert rth h  We often start retrospectives by remi  We reminding nding the participants of the prime directive.

Retrospe Retr ospectiv ctive e Formats Formats The format and structure of each retrospective may be different and each eac h team will typi typical cally ly have its ow own n way of doi doing ng it. The key goa goall is to make the meeting a team learning event, fostering change through concrete actions. One wa One way y to keep keep the re retr tros ospe pect ctiv ives es in inte tere rest stin ing g is to have have se seve vera rall di diff ffer eren entt kinds of retros: quick, standard and deep. Quick deep.  Quick retrospectives  are  are done Coaching your team

 

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ad hoc, in 5-10 min minutes utes.. The goal is to under understand stand what is happen happening  ing  and find a quick win. You can use powe powerful rful questio questions ns (see sec. 3.6) to guide the discussion or the Cynefin model, Delta-Plus or Five Whys 1 to generate insights that you can later delve deeper into. For stand standard ard retrosp retrospectiv ectives  es  on  on a weekly or biweekly biweekly basis basis,, you might use the Starfish Starfish or Spe Speedboa edboatt mode models ls2 to crea create te sugge suggestion stions, s, then dot vote and form the top suggestion(s) into experiments, pilots or SMART Actions. tion s. As an alternative alternative you could facilit facilitate ate an open discuss discussion ion usin using  g  either the 5D model (as explained in sec. 4.2), or the Karl Tomm model (sec. 3.6), again making sure that you end up with actionable items. It It’’s imp import ortant ant to run deep ret retrosp rospectiv ectives  es ev every ery no now w and and then then.. Th They ey ar are e of of-te ten n ru run n by th the e bo book ok — “Agil Agile e Re Retr tros ospe pect ctiv ives es”” by De Derb rby y an and d Lars Larsen en (2 (200 006) 6) — and can take several hours. The Derby & Larsen model includes five stages, stage s, which we will describe belo below w. If the group is small enoug enough h to hold a single coherent discussion, the 5D and Karl Tomm models can

again aga in be very usef useful. ul. In larg larger er retro retrospe specti ctive ves, s, it is imp importa ortant nt to to think   think  global and act local . In practice there is often a preparatory meeting or team survey for collecting collecting data. After that the data is colla collated ted centra centrally  lly  and some basic analysis is carried out. The teams reconvene reconvene the follo followwing day to generate insights and plan actions.

The five five stag stages es of a Retr Retros ospe pect ctiv ive e 1. Set Set th the e st stag age e

The aim here is to welcome people, make them feel comfortable, break  the ice and create a good, safe environment to get everyone involved in the retrospecti retrospective ve.. It also helps to trigge triggerr people to start thinki thinking ng about the past sprint in a light way. Some examples: 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys 2 Look up Starfish or Speedboat on  on http://www.plans-forhttp://www.plans-for-retrospecti retrospectives.com/ ves.com/..

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

• We can remind remind ourselv ourselves es of our team values • Remind everyone about the prime directive • Ask pow powerful erful questions, e e.g. .g. if you had to repr represent esent the sprint as a  weather report, what would it be? 2. Gathe Gatherr dat data  a 

Once we ha Once have ve pe peop ople le en enga gage ged, d, it it’’s ti time me to take take a st step ep deep deeper er in into to the the de de-tail ta ilss. You wa want nt to elic elicit it as mu much ch in info form rmat atio ion n from from the the gr grou oup p as po poss ssib ible le.. The facilitator can also bring data to the table for the team to discuss. Examples: • Look at ssome ome metric metrics, s, ffor or exam example ple veloc velocity ity,, th throug roughput, hput, lead time or quality 

Review the actions from the last retrospe retrospective ctive • 4L 4L’’s: what I Liked, Learned, Lacked, and and Longed for 3. Gen Genera erate te insi insight ghtss

In this phase it about about making sens sense e of the collected details. details. We try to distinguish symptoms from root causes and to discover patterns. Possible approaches: • 3H’ 3H’s: s: what Helped, Helped, what Hin Hindere dered, d, and what Hypothe Hypotheses ses do we have for improv improving? ing? • Ti Timelin meline: e: plot the colle collected cted data on a time timeline line an and d identi identify fy patterns • Sta Starfish: rfish: what shou should ld we Start, Sto Stop p, Continue, Continue, do Mo More re,, do Less of? 4. Dec Decid ide e wh what at to do Coaching your team

 

 

Once we have figured out what the problems are we need to find out  what to do about them so that we can prevent this from happening  again. • Prioritize! W Write rite SMART SMART actions • Goal - Acti Action: on: Defin Define e a long term goal plu pluss a concre concrete te actio action n for next sprint • U pdate agre agreemen ements: ts: Working orking Agreem Agreements ents,, Defin Definition ition of Done, etc. 5. Closing 

Since we may have had some heated discussions or shared some sensitive personal details, we want to formally “close the box”. For the facilitator, it might also be good to ask for feedback from the team and thank 

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people for participating. • Ap Appr preci eciati ations ons:: ask peopl people e to share share somet somethin hing g the they y app appre recia ciate te about another team member. member. • One wor word: d: state one word about the S Sprint print or the Re Retrospective. trospective. • Re Retu turn rn On Tim ime e In Inve vest sted ed (R (RO OTI): TI): As Ask k pe peop ople le ho how w mu much ch th they  ey  learned and improved improved in this retrospective.

Summary  In re retro trospe specti ctives ves,, part partici icipan pants ts loo look k at the pro proces cesss and discus discusss wha whatt  worked and what did not, trying to understand the reasons for each. They then make hypotheses about how to address problems and define acti ac tion onss th that at coul could d so solv lve e th them em.. To ma make ke this happ happen en it is cruc crucia iall to clea clearly rly de defin fine e th the e go goal al,, wh who o is re resp spon onsi sibl ble e fo forr ac achi hiev evin ing g it, it, wh what at is the timeframe and which metrics will be used to verify the outcome. The status of these action items should be checked at each following  retrospective. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

It is important, from time to time, to leave room for new independent, innovative inno vative ideas and experiments to impro improve ve the process.

Coaching your team

 

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Chapter 7

Struc Str uctu ture red d coachi oaching ng

Some Som e agile coach coaches es have a fant fantastic astic memory memory.. They remember remember exactly   where they left off and are able to pick up the trail where they left off. Not all of us hav have e this gift. In fac fact, t, we thin think k tha thatt thi thiss gif giftt is becom becomin ing  g  exceedin exce edingly gly rare rare.. As you work on and off with lots of differen differentt teams, it is very easy to los lose e you yourr way or for forget get impo importan rtantt det detail ails. s. Ev Everyo eryone ne,, including the memory geniuses and the multitaskers, can benefit from some structure in their work. The “Team Coaching Framework” (TCF) is our way of introducing that

structure to the work we do. do. For in individual dividual coaches, the coac coaching hing structure serves as a memory memory aid in intermi intermittent ttent enga engageme gements. nts. In pairs or smal sm alll gr grou oups ps of co coac ache hes, s, th the e co coac achi hing ng st stru ruct ctur ure e fo form rmss a ba basi siss fo forr co coll llab ab-oration. orati on. Scrum ScrumMaste Masters, rs, line mana managers gers and coaches can pool their observations, draw up hypotheses together, agree on the tools to be used and then carry out actions designed to gently nudge the team towards the same goal. The structure also allows sharing experiences and ideas for improvement with members of an organization or the larger professional community muni ty.. In effect, you can take an anon anonymou ymouss coach coaching ing structur structure e and discuss the content with any other ScrumMaster or agile coach, regardle less ss of wh ethe her r th they ey ar are e in invo volv lved ed wi with th th the eother sa same meand clie client nt or no not. t. Th This isexperiallo allows ws two or whet more coaches to learn from each enables more enced coaches to mentor a less experienced coach. TCF is base based d on th the e Ob Obse serv rve e, Or Orie ient nt,, De Deci cide de,, Ac Actt (O (OOD ODA) A) lo loop op1 beca be caus use e it allo allows ws us to co comm mmit it late late.. Th Ther ere e ar are e also also goal goal-o -ori rien ente ted d 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop

Structured coaching

 

 

methods that follow the better known Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycl cy cle, e, bu butt th the e PD PDCA CA cy cycl cle e fo forc rces es ea earl rly y co comm mmit itme ment nt — we ne need ed to plan pl an up fron front, t, be befo fore re we have enoug enough h fact facts. s. In the OODA OODA lo loop op we can continuously add more observations as we go and change our hypotheses and goals as necessary. necessary.

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Figure 7.1: The OODA loop when coaching a team This approach works especially well in complex environmen environments. ts. New agile teams tend to need help with their dysfunctions first. Only after they  have st have star arte ted d wo work rkin ing g we well ll en enou ough gh to toge geth ther er as a Sc Scru rum m team team do does es it ma make ke sense to draw up goals and start working together towards them. Note that there can be many different ways of introducing structure. TCF is so some meth thin ing g th that at we ha have ve co cons nstru truct cted ed ove verr ma many ny year yearss of succ succes esse sess and failures. It’s not perfect, but it serves us well. Doubtless it will keep evolving in the future. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

. Overvi rview  TCF relies on  Coaching Tools. These ar are e metho methods, ds, techni techniques, ques, wor workkshop formats, etc. that an agile coach can introduce to change the behaviorr of a team. You can find a collection havio collection of coachi coaching ng tools in the agthe  agile42 TCF Tool  that  that we have developed2 . The question arises when to use a specific tool, or, from another perspecti spe ctive ve,, wha whatt too tooll to use in this speci specific fic context context an and d sit situat uation ion?? TC TCF F uses Coaching Cards  to bind together a context and a couple of coaching tools. The coaching card template, shown in fig. 7.2, is very simple. It merely merely consists of four fields or headi headings ngs.. We sometime sometimess use an A4 card for this, sometimes a brief text document. Several coaching cards make up a  Coaching Structure. The coac coaching hing stru structur cture e can also con-

tain an introduction in the form of a description of the context and the background situation.  We usually create new coaching cards when coaching teams, but since  We ther th ere e ar are e situ situa ati tion onss th tha at recu ecur ev eve ery so of ofte ten n, we ha hav ve fou oun nd it he help lpfful to create a small library of such cards that we can reuse. The process of creating a coaching card or a coaching structure goes generally from observations through hypotheses and goals to metrics and finally, finally, actio actions ns and coach coaching ing tools. Be prepar prepared ed to jump back and fort fo rth h th thou ough gh,, as you you ma may y un unea eart rth h new new in info form rmat atio ion n or co come me up wi with th ne new  w  hypoth hyp othese eses. s. Next up, we will descri describe be the gen genera erall ste steps ps of cr creat eating ing a coaching card and thereby a coaching structure.

. Make ake observ serva ation tions s  A good coach always starts by observing the tteam eam or individual you are coaching. coach ing. Don Don’’t be afraid to collab collaborate orate with others on collecting collecting and 2 https://tcf.agile42.com/

Structured coaching

 

 

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Figure 7.2: Coaching structure

sharing observ sharing observation ations. s. Multiple ultiple peopl people e can throw in their observati observations ons and, in doing so, build a better basis for the coaching structure.  An observation is some information that you have seen, remember remembered ed or recorded reco rded,, or receiv received ed from a data system or from anothe anotherr person. Observations are facts: things either happened or they did not happen. As such they are beyond dispute. People may have different observations and different understandings of why things happened in certain ways, but we will discuss that in the next section.  What to observe? Anything that seems significant to you, including the elephant in the corner of the room. This would include: • Team interac interactions tions — who is talking, who is not? • Voice and intonation  

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

• • • • •

Po Posture sturess and e energ nergy y leve levels ls What do p people eople ttalk alk abo about? ut? What do they lea leave ve uns unsaid? aid? What informa information tion do peo people ple look at? What do they ignore? Significan Significantt events o originating riginating in inside side or outside the team Who m makes akes dec decision isions? s? Is the team team def deferring erring to othe others? rs? Ho How w are decisions communicated?

 When to observe? The best time is any time and all the time! In sec. 6, we ment me ntio ione ned d th that at di diff ffer eren entt fr fram amew ewor orks ks (S (Scr crum um,, Ka Kanb nban an et etc. c.)) ca can n give give yo you u several sever al differ different ent touchpo touchpoints ints with the team. Use all the opportun opportunities ities  you get. Don Don’’t forget to talk with stakeholders, specialists and neighbouring teams. How to colle collect ct info informa rmatio tion n and obs observ ervati ations ons is up to you. Ma Many ny of 

us write write dia diarie riess or re recor cord d our eng engage agemen ments ts and and int intera eracti ctions ons some some other way. We use pen and paper, post-its, tablets, cellphone cameras, pocket/system cameras, e-mail, etc. to collect data. Then we aggregate the information into a reliable and secure collaboration environment to share with colleagues and/or clients.  When observing, obser ving, you should be aware of something called called observation   observation  bias , which means that the observer allows her own ideas to influence  what she observes or how she interprets the observations. In practice practice,, it means eans th tha at pe peo opl ple e ar are e more ore ea eag ger to take take in fac acts ts th that at su sup pport port thei theirr own poin po ints ts of view view.. If yo you u li like ke kn knit itti ting ng,, yo you u wo woul uld d subs subscri cribe be to knit knitti ting ng magmagazin az ines es,, bl blog ogss and and po podc dcas asts ts,, an and d pe perh rhap apss avoi avoid d th thos ose e abou aboutt car car tu tuni ning ng or technical physics.3 There are some tricks you can use to avoid observation bias. Try this: • Avoid dra drawing wing any con conclusi clusions ons until you have a good amoun amountt of  observations 3 If you are a techn technical ical physicist physicist who likes knitting knitting and car tuning, let us know and

 we will change this example. Structured coaching

 

 

• Entertain multiple hypotheses and be prepar prepared ed to chan change ge them • Sh Shar are e an and d co comp mpar are e ob obse serva rvati tion onss and and co conc nclu lusi sion onss with with ot othe herr coaches • Validate each and every hypothesis before you expend sig significant nificant energy on them

. Formulat late a hypothesis Now that you have some observations, you can start thinking about  what would explain the observed behaviors. Draw up an explanation that th at is co cohe here rent nt and fo foll llo ows the ob obse serva rvati tion ons. s. Th This is is no nott alwa always ys straightforward and can require a lot of thinking, and support from others. Many of the retrospective “Gather insights” methods work well

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here, for example Five Whys, Fishbone or For Force ce Field Analysis.  Always try tr y to validate or invalidate your hypotheses before you commit to it and start constructing a goal. Search for for additional information that can strengthen strengthen or weake weaken n it. The OODA loop allo allows ws you to dig up more data and reformulate your hypotheses as needed. Make more observations servati ons and talk to people to get more info informatio rmation. n. The flip side is that you shouldn’t get too attached to your hypotheses. Always be prepared to throw them away and start from scratch. Share observations and collaborate with other people as they can help  you come up with a wider range of hypotheses or help (in)validate a hypothesis pothe sis you have made made.. If you have access to a co-co co-coach ach or mentor mentor,,  you can learn a lot by discussing your observations and hypotheses with them. Again, remember that while facts are facts, different people may  have different interpretations and opinions of those facts. Over time, you will learn to see patterns that are recurring within the organiza orga nization tion or acro across ss organ organizati izations ons.. Experi Experience enced d agile coache coachess have seen many different situations and have learned what is likely to help in each situation. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

If you end up with several coherent hypotheses, you may want to create a separate coaching card for each hypothesis and construct a coaching  structure structu re from the cards cards.. If they are aligned, aligned, you can just merge them into the same document and call it your coaching structure.

.

Identify a goal

From the hypothesis, From hypothesis, it is usually quite easy to construct a goal. Giv Given en the context and the hypothesis, what is the behavior we want to see in the team? Try to phrase this as a transform transforming ing questi question on or statement, statement, rather than a problem-solving one. (Please see sec. 4.2 for a description of transforming questions.)

The goal can be lofty but should not be too abstract — rather than “wor “w orld ld pe peac ace e an and d ha happ ppin ines ess, s,”” yo you u ma may y wa want nt to aim aim fo forr “ce ceas asefi efire re agreement.” The reason for loftiness is becomes that you may not actually the goal before the coaching structure irrelevant. As thereach team improves along the chosen dimension, the Theory of Constraints by  Goldratt and Cox (2004) says that another dysfunction will eventually  pop up and become the most important bottleneck, which means that  you will need to create new coaching cards and structures as you go. For the same reason, you should avoid making KPIs or incentives out of  these goals. The reason for having pragmatic goals is that abstract goals can be very difficult to work towards — you may have to work along  several dimensions to get there and getting there can take too much time.

. Define metrics Metrics are integral to the idea of coaching cards and coaching structures tur es.. We define define the met metrics rics imm immedi ediate ately ly after we hav have e agr agreed eed on a Structured coaching

 

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goal, not after defining the actions, otherwise we run the risk of choosing metrics that measure the actions we take, rather than the goals we  want to reach. We recommend that you use at least one lagging indicator and a handful of leading indicators. And what are leading and lagging indicators? Let’ Let’ss approach this topic through an example. The problem with most metrics is that they can be measured only  after  only  after   we have an outcome and this may be too late. For example, many organiza ni zati tion onss me meas asur ure e th the e qu qual alit ity y leve levell of thei theirr so soft ftwa warre by ma maki king ng a relea elease se candidate cand idate,, then havin having g a cadr cadre e of testers run regre regression ssion tests tests.. Beca Because use manu ma nual al te test stin ing g is ex expe pens nsiv ive, e, re rele leas ases es ar are e do done ne as se seldo ldom m as po poss ssib ible le an and d the longer they go between releases, the longer the bugs go undetected. The Th e nu numb mber er of foun found d an and d un unfix fixed ed bu bugs gs in the the so soft ftwa warre is a ve very ry co comm mmon on

lagging indica lagging indicator tor. But by the time you get around to counting the bugs, it is too late — the bug bugss ar are e already already in the sof softwa tware re.. You need to root them out one by one and then test again to ensure they are gone and to hunt for additional bugs hiding behind the first ones.

 As you can imagine imagine,, it would be very useful to get some early indications of what the quality level is likely to be. What should we look for? Here are some ideas: • The num number ber of aut utom oma ate ted d te test stss — tw two o te test stss are more like likely ly to find find a bug than one test • Cod ode e co cove vera rage ge fo forr au auto toma mate ted d test testss — be bett tter er co code de cove covera rage ge me mean anss that more bugs are likely to be found and fixed within the Sprints, rather than in system testing  • Cy Cyclom clomatic atic comple complexity xity — low CC indicate indicatess simp simpler ler code that is easier to understand and, thereby, is less likely to have bugs • Bug fixi fixing ng rate — the mor more e bugs we fix and the fast faster er we fix them, the fewer bugs we are likely to have in the product These are what we call  leading indicators. They are indirect measurements of things that are associated with or correlated to what we want 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

to achieve. Leading indicators are also probabilistic  also  probabilistic  —  — there is a chance that each individual indicator is wrong, so we need to look at them in aggregate aggr egate.. Fo Forr example, example, even if the bug fixing rate looks good, the bug  introduction rate could be even higher higher..  We  W e do not need to figure out the exact probabilities however however.. For our purp pu rpos oses es it is en enou ough gh to us use e ma many ny di diff ffer eren entt lead leadin ing g in indi dica cato tors rs and and chec check  k   what they show as an aggregate. aggregate. Leading indicators can sometimes also help us understand alternative ways of achieving our goal.  Y  You ou will find it comparatively easy to come up with lagging indicators for the coa coachi ching ng card card or coa coachi ching ng stru structu cture re.. Ho Howe wever ver,, lea leadin ding g ind indica icator torss often leave people stumped. To make matters worse, you need at least

three and preferably five or more of them. We would advise you to look  at what people do, do, what they discu discuss ss and the words they choose choose.. We sometimes use the “miracle question” to find ideas: assuming that the problem going thewas rightfixed way?overnight, how would you notice that things were It is imp importa ortant nt to ma make ke all met metric ricss very clea clearr and acti actiona onable ble.. Sa Sayin ying  g  “progress is updated regularly” is a good start, but not in itself sufficient. cie nt. In Instea stead d you coul could d say “in the daily stan standup dup,, the Scrum ScrumMa Master ster notes whether the Sprint board was up to date or not when the standup started.”

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Choose the coaching tools

 As mentioned in the overview overview,, tools are methods, techniques, workshop formats etc. that you can introduce to permanently change the behavior of a team. Because of this very loose definition, the list of potential coaching tools is very long — theoretically infinite. Structured coaching

 

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 At agile42, we maintain a repository of 100+ central, well-defined tools 4 that th at we ex expe pect ct al alll ou ourr co coac ache hess to lear learn n an and d kno know. Se Seve vera rall do doze zen n of thes these e  we use weekly if not daily and there are also many unlisted tools that we use occasi occasion onally ally.. We also som someti etimes mes com combin bine e com compon ponent entss in into to ad-hoc ad-hoc,, hybrid tools or create new tools on the spur of the moment. By observing and talking to other coaches, you may learn about new  tools too ls that you can try out and mak make e part of you yourr too toolbo lbox. x. Oth Other er good sources are blog posts and other books.

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Build a coaching structure

 At this stage, s tage, you have all the information you need to make a coaching  card. Take a piece of paper or a text editor editor,, write down the five headings and fill in the rest rest.. Thi Thiss is strai straight ght-fo -forwar rward d man manual ual labo laborr tha thatt sho should uld not pose any challenges. Don’t write a novel though, usually one or two paragraphs will be more than sufficient. If you have more than one coaching card, you can combine them into a coac co achi hing ng st struc ructu ture re.. It is of ofte ten n se sens nsib ible le to merg merge e th the e co cont ntex extt desc descri ript ptio ions ns into a separate section at the start of the document: 1. Conte Context xt 2. Coachin Coaching gc card ard A  1. 2. 3. 4.

Hypothes Hypothesis is Goal Goal Metrics etrics Tools

3. Coachin Coaching gc card ard B 1. Hypothes Hypothesis is 4 https://tcf.agile42.com/

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

2. ... 4. Coachin Coaching gc card ard C 1. ...

. Follow up If your your hy hypo poth thes esis is is wr wron ong, g, th this is wi will ll us usua uall lly y be beco come me ap appa parren entt at th the e latlatest when you start applyin applying g the coach coaching ing tools tools.. Be prepar prepared ed to change change or even scrap the whole coaching card and make new observations to refine your hypotheses.

It takes two weeks to build a habit. When the coaching tools are applied consistently and regularly — on a daily or sprintly basis — you should start seeing changes and improvements within the first sprint, and they  should be established after a couple of sprints.  Y  You ou may need to swap out metrics as you go. go. Don Don’’t be afraid of adding  or removing leading indicators. indicators. Because lagging indicators measure the actu ac tual al ou outc tcom ome e, yo you u ma may y wa want nt to st stic ick k to them them fo forr lo long nger er pe peri riod odss of time time in order to build up long-term historical data.  As the team grows and the context changes, the coaching card eventually outlives outlives its usefu usefulness lness.. As mention mentioned ed previo previously usly,, the Theory of  Constraints by Goldratt and Cox (2004) states that every system has one major bottleneck bottleneck that constr constrains ains the whole system. As you remo remove ve or reduce this bottleneck, another takes its place and working further on the original origin bottlene bottleneck will not improve e the system system. . Ther There e will a time whenalyou mustck archive theimprov current coaching structure andcome create a new one. Is it OK to share a coaching structure with the team? It depends. There There’’s nothing that prevents you from sharing the structure, but you might get unanticip unan ticipated ated side effe effects. cts. Fo Forr exam example, ple, it migh mightt affe affect ct the team team’’s behavior adversely or they might start gaming the metrics. On the upside, Structured coaching

 

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they cou they ould ld al also so ta tak ke th the e de desi sirred ch cha ang nge e to heart eart an and d make it pa part rt of th thei eirr team goal. In general, however, we would advise keeping the coaching  structure as a tool for the eyes of the ScrumMaster and related stakeholder hol derss onl only y. Thi Thiss is becau because se the tea team m alr alread eady y has a mec mechan hanism ism for improvement (the retrospective meeting) but the ScrumMaster doesn’t really have anything. If you really want to take something up with the team, you can kick off  a retrospective by telling them what you have observed. This is usually  a safe approach approach that is appr apprecia eciated ted by the team. Befo Before re you start, remember to ask if they want your feedback, and respect their decision.  Also make sure that they understand that you are merely stating your observations and not making any judgements. We find that most teams

appreciate the information, and are able to hold good and constructive conversations about it.

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Case studies for TCF

In thi this se sect ctio ion n, we will ill pr pres esen entt a num umbe berr of ca case se st stud udiies fro rom m whi hich ch you migh mi ghtt be insp inspir ired ed.. Ea Each ch of the the ca case se st stud udie iess is de desc scri ribe bed d just just as we wo woul uld d prepare prep are a coaching car card. d. This inclu includes des the observation (con (context), text), the hypothesis, the goal, the metrics and the tools involved.

Coach Co aching ing card: card: The hurrie hurried d tests tests Context:

 At the review meeting the team demonstrates a product that has not been be en full fully y te teste sted. d. Th The e tests tests ar are e ne neve verr re read ady y. Of Ofte ten n th the e test testss ar are e run on th the e tester’ss machine or on the developer’s tester’ developer’s laptop. They never describe the test environment nor do they reflect the normal production situation. There Ther e is no report on the tests run to verify the produ product. ct. The Pro Product duct Owner seems to be okay with this and the ScrumMaster says that the time is so short that “it is a miracle that they have ttime ime to test anything” anything”.. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Hypothesis:

 We think the team does not fully understand the principles behind the  We  XP practices. Also it seems that there is considerable technical debt,  which is preventing the team from investing enough time in test automation and checking the quality of the delivered User Stores. We believe the lack of automated tests results in a fear of making mistakes. Goal: The Sc The Scrum rum Tea eam m is de deli live verin ring g wi with th hi high gher er qu qual alit ity y an and d fast faster er th than an before. befor e. Than Thanks ks to a Contin Continuous uous Integ Integratio ration n infrastru infrastructur cture, e, they have developed a sense of safety which improves their focus on value and

performance in impl performance implemen ementing ting new featu features res.. Aut Automat omation ion is perc perceive eived d as ha havi ving ng a gr grea eatt va valu lue e by al alll th the e team teamss wo work rkin ing g on the the so soft ftwa warre platform, even those that are not yet using agile methods. The number of defects after deployment have decreased dramatically and teams have more time to deliver value. Metrics:

Leading indicators : • The Developm Development ent T Team eam operate operatess a conti continuou nuouss integratio integration n (CI) server on which the latest software is automatically deployed and uses this for the Sprint Review demonstrations. • Ther There e are automa automated ted build and test scripts withi within n the CI server server.. The Th e te team am rec ecei eive vess feed feedba back ck on th the e qu qual alit ity y of the the co code de with within in mi minnutes of check-in. • For every User Story Story,, the Development T Team eam creates at least one automated functional test. • For every chang change e in the code, the Development Development T Team eam creates several new unit tests. Lagging indicators : Structured coaching

 

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• The Dev Develo elopme pment nt Team is del delive iverin ring g con consist sisten ently tly wit with h hig higher her quality. • The number of interruptions during the Sprint du due e to defects and problems in production has decreased significantly if not disappeared completely. • The code cover coverage age level iiss high an and d increa increasing. sing. • The team is of the opin opinion ion that the Con Continuous tinuous Integ Integration ration infr infraastructure helps them t hem develop faster and with higher q quality uality.. Coaching Coac hing Tools:

• TDD W Worksh orkshop: op: In Introdu troduce ce TDD practic practices es in a safesafe-to-fa to-fail il environment, so that the team not only understands the principles, but can also apply them. • Slo Slow w Lane: Pick one lo lower wer priori priority ty Use Userr Story for which the team commits to ““dot commits dot the I’ I’ss and cross the T’ T’s” s”.. . . which includes includes writ writ-ing proper automated tests. • Rep Reproduc roduce e bugs: The team ag agrees rees to writ write e tests first to repr reproduce oduce the most severe defects, and then fix the defects so that they can immediate imme diately ly prov prove e that the fix work works. s. The tests are added to the test suite in order to prevent regr regression. ession.

Coach Co aching ing card: card: Team report reports s to ScrumM ScrumMast aster er Context:

Tea eam m memb member erss repo report rt to the the Sc Scrum rumMa Maste sterr in the the da dail ily y st stan andu dup p. Excep Exceptting in g on one e or tw two o se seni nior or en engi gine neer ers, s, th the e ot othe hers rs do no nott ask ask or vo volu lunt ntee eerr in info forrmation. mati on. The ScrumM ScrumMaster aster takes a very contro controlling lling role in the meeti meeting, ng,  walking everyone through the three questions. When needed, he tells the team what the managers are saying, doing and thinking about some issues (“Manager N.N. called the customer yesterday and they will decide.. . . so don cide don’’t do anythi anything ng befo before re you g get et an e-ma e-mail. il.”). ”). He is qu quick ick to  

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

delegate work and ends the meeting by asking if everyone has “enough  work for today” today”.. The ScrumMaster is a former Project Manager and took  his CSM around 8 months ago. Hypotheses:

1) We think that the Scrum ScrumMast Master er has not intern internalize alized d the mecha mecha-nisms nis ms that he is expect expected ed to use use.. He may hav have e diffic difficult ulties ies unders de rsta tand ndin ing g th the e ro role le an and d th the e dy dyna nami mics cs betw betwee een n Sc Scrum rumMa Maste sterr an and d Dev Team. 2) Th The e Sc Scrum rumMa Maste sterr is us used ed to bein being g th the e hu hub b of info inform rmat atio ion n be betw twee een n

“managers managers”” and “coders coders”” and is afraid of losing that position. 3) The team may be afraid of taking respo responsibi nsibility lity,, and is happy to hand it to the ScrumMaster ScrumMaster.. 4) The There re are indica indicatio tions ns that the man manage agers rs see the dev teams as a costt sin cos sink k ra rathe therr tha than n a val value ue sour source ce.. Tha Thatt is, the man manage agers rs are more concerned about how the coders spend their time rather than what they produce. Goal:

The goal goal is to make ake th the e te team am memb ember erss ta talk lk to each each ot othe herr rat athe herr th tha an th the e ScrumMaster and to plan their Sprints and workdays as a team. Metrics:

Leading indicators : • Wha Whatt per percen centag tage e of questi question onss in the sta standu ndup p ar are e pos posed ed by the ScrumMaster compared to team members? • Ho How w often do the team members say “us “us”” and “w “we e” rather than “me”” and “I”? “me Structured coaching

 

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• Ho How w often does the ScrumMaste ScrumMasterr NOT ask if everyon everyone e has work  for the day? • Ask the ScrumM ScrumMaster aster to skip a daily standup standup.. Silently ob observe serve the meeting meeti ng when the ScrumM ScrumMaster aster is not prese present. nt. Do the intera interacctions change? Lagging indicators : • All work ite items ms are pulle pulled d by team membe members, rs, not pushe pushed d by the ScrumMaster

• The ScrumM ScrumMaster aster listens more than he speaks • Managers inter interact act with the team dire directly ctly,, not through the ScrumMaster

Coaching Coac hing Tools:

• Teach the S ScrumMaster crumMaster in the role. • Role Role-mod -model el for the ScrumM ScrumMaster aster.. Offe Offerr to run the daily standup standupss a couple of times, then explain to him what you did and why. • Ge Gent ntly ly move move th the e Sc Scru rumM mMas aste terr ou outs tsid ide e th the e circ circle le in th the e da dail ily  y  standup stand up.. If team members members still turn tow toward ardss the Scrum ScrumMaste Masterr, move him all the way behind the speaking team member member.. • Talk to the Scrum ScrumMa Maste sterr to find out what stake stakehol holder derss he is re re-porting portin g to. Then syste systematic matically ally meet all stakeholders stakeholders and work   with them to replace the reports with transparency transparency.. • Help the team create create a pull po policy licy.. • In In a sa safe fe se sett ttin ing, g, di disc scus usss wi with th th the e Sc Scru rumM mMas aste terr ho how w he feel feelss ab abou outt the changed responsibilities, then help the ScrumMaster choose the right path forward. • Educate man managers agers on value-focus value-focus vs. cost-focus and the implications of each. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Coac Co achi hing ng card card:: Weak eak coll collab abor orat atio ion n in the the team team Context:

The team opens up multiple Sprint Backlog items in parallel and have problems probl ems finish finishing ing them b by y the end of the Sprint. Sprint. Ther There e is no colle collecctive feeling of responsibility and people hold back on asking for help because the other team members are all busy with their own tasks and  would not have time to help anyway anyway.. This atti This attitu tude de,, comb combin ined ed wi with th th the e si size ze of th the e sto storie ries, s, ge gene nera rate tess th the e be beha havvio iour ur th that at in indi divi vidu dual alss feel feel ove verwh rwhel elme med d an and d focu focuss prima primaril rily y on co comp mple lett-

ing th ing thei eirr own ta task skss. Th Thos ose e few few wh who o ar are e do done ne earl early y po poli lish sh thei theirr own wo work  rk  or op open en new new st stor orie iess be befo forre he help lpin ing g ot othe hers rs.. Mo Most st of the the time time,, it it is to too o lat late e to get get a st stor ory y do don ne by th the e en end d of the the Spr prin int. t. Fu Furthe rtherm rmor ore e, as th ther ere e ar are e no consequences from not delivering a story, the stories get dragged along  from Sprint to Sprint. Hypothesis:

The team The team is mo more re in inte tere rest sted ed in be bein ing g effic efficie ient nt as in indi divi vidu dual als, s, as op oppo pose sed d to being effective as a team. This leads to many dysfunctions. The team does not understand the meaning of commitment and does not understand understand their collect collective ive respo responsibi nsibility lity.. Ther Therefor efore, e, they fail to manage the risk and to control the process properly properly.. Goal:

The Th e go goal al is to learn learn to appr apprec ecia iate te team team effe effect ctiv iven enes ess. s. Helpi elping ng each each othe otherr to move collectively forward is the first priority of the team. Metrics:

Leading indicators  • Tea eam m memb member erss ar are e ac acti tive vely ly se seek ekin ing g so some meon one e to pair pair wi with th on ta task skss (active collaboration), rather than waiting to ask for help until the Structured coaching

 

 

Sprint is almost over and the PO and stakeholders are starting to ask questions (passive). • No mor more e than three stories are in pr progress ogress simultaneou simultaneously sly.. • When you ent enter er the room, you will regula regularly rly see team member memberss  working in pairs or small groups on the same computer. Lagging indicators  • Th The e hi hitt ra rate te of the the Spr prin intt (n (num umbe berr of st stor orie iess de deli live vere red d vs vs.. pl plan anne ned) d)

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stabilizes at 90% or above • The variance of the velocity goes do down. wn. In other wor words, ds, the velocity curve becomes smoother and exhibits less zig-zagging than it does now. • Th The e ve velo loci city ty ke keep epss in incr crea easi sing ng ove verr time time.. Th The e tren trend d can can be sl slo ow bu butt is positive. Coaching Coac hing Tools:

• Cre Create ate a Skills Matrix Matrix and use it to promote colla collabora boration tion for improved knowledge transfer • Use the W Working orking Agr Agreement eement to limit the n number umber of stories started during durin g a Spri Sprint. nt. In case of except exceptions ions,, note them do down wn and discuss them at the Retrospective. This will encourage collaboration on a single story (including testing very early). • Add pair wor work k on tasks to the W Working orking Agr Agreement eement for better quality (building quality in). • Ag Agrree th tha at eac ach h ta task sk or Use serr Sto tory ry needs eeds to be th the e res espo pon nsibi sibili lity ty of  two people rather than one and make sure this can be visualized on the board. • Hi High ghli ligh ghtt ta task skss de depe pend nden enci cies es at th the e pl plan anni ning ng me meet etin ing g (u (use se sequential numbering and flow sequence). 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

• Write down down the Sprin Sprintt Goal as a mark marketing eting mo motto tto and hang it in the team room. room. Challenge Challenge the team to pull storie storiess and evaluat evaluate e multiple options to achieve the Sprint Goal.

Structured coaching

 

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Chapter 8

Challenges

 As agile coaches, we often face challenges — one could argue tthat hat that is what the job is about. But even assum assuming ing that you yourse yourself lf feel comfortable in your role as an agile coach and teacher and have the tools and structures you need to do your job, you will often encounter other

people who are wary, scared or doubtful or simply have a different understanding of what has happened and what needs to be done next. This chapter explores a couple of models that have helped us understand why people react as they do to change and specifically to agile adoptions adopt ions and transfo transformatio rmations. ns. We will also look at some techn techniques iques for lowering the resistance to change: constructing change proposals, building consensus, anchoring ideas, running safe-to-fail experiments and getting buy-in buy-in..  We will open this chapter by discussing two thinking models that are  We usef us eful ul for for un unde ders rsta tand ndin ing g wh why y pe peop ople le re resi sist st chan change ge:: th the e Liza Lizard rd Br Brai ain n an and d SCARF.

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The lizard brain

 All humans have a hard-wir hard-wired ed notion that change is dangerous dangerous.. Over-reacting pays off in the jungle or on the veldt — those who scram away without thinking have a good chance of seeing their offspring  grow gro w up. And so we have evolved a mechan mechanism ism for gettin getting g ourselve ourselvess out of dangerous situations quickly and with a minimum of thinking. In fact, thinking is high on the list of things not  things  not  to   to do. Those who start analyzing whether the waving grass really does conceal a man-eating  Challenges

 

 

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Figure 8.1: Coaching challenges

saber-tooth tiger are more likely to end up analyzing the tiger from the inside. Change and fear are connec Change connected ted on quite a deep level in our brains brains.. As shown in fig. 8.2, when subjected to a threat of some kind — a threat to their habits, territory, or very existence — people go into panic mode and will either fight, flee or freeze. Like all models, this model is incomplete: plet e: it it’’s a simp simpli lific ficat atio ion n of real realit ity y and and fu full ll of hole holess an and d erro errors rs.. Howe weve verr,  we have found it very useful. It explains some of the reasons why people fear change, and also helps make sense of why people react as they do in the face of change. The na The name me liza lizarrd br brain  ain co come mess fr from om fa fact ct that that pa pani nic c re reac acti tion onss ar are e ha hand ndle led d (mostly) by a part of the brain called the amygdala  the amygdala , which can be found  just above the brainstem in all vertebrates. We share the amygdala with 

 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

Figure 8.2: The lizard brain — primal reactions

all mammals, birds and — as the name implies — with lizards.  When a vertebrate animal is subjected to a strong threat, the amygdala causes an immediate primal reaction. This is not a simple reflexive action: tio n: re reflex flexes es typic typicall ally y onl only y yan yank k a cou couple ple of muscl muscles es.. Bu Butt the prim primal al reaction reac tion is still well below below rationa rationall thought. The amygd amygdala ala in fact fact pre prevents ven ts ra ratio tional nal tho though ught  t  by  by subverting and disconnecting the upper brain functions. People suffering from primal fear are not only unreceptive to rational arguments but actually incapable of rational thought. Interestingly enough for an agile coach, similar patterns can be found in prolonged situations of uncertainty, fear or anxiety, as is the case in e.g. agile deployments. Case in point: “We will pilot Scrum in the organization and your team is the best candidate!” In other words: “We say   you Scrum.” Scrum.” Ouch! Ho How w do people interpret this? Challenges

 

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Habits   — Most ost pe peop ople le ar are e in init itia iall lly y va vary ry of agil agile e me meth thod odss as th they ey ne need ed to change their own working habits. Harsh corporate environments caus ca use e peop people le to form form thei theirr own pa patte ttern rnss an and d strat strateg egie iess fo forr su survi rviva vall and they may be very suspicious of “team work” and “collaboration”.

For exam exampl ple e, we re regu gula larl rly y me meet et en engi gine neer erss wh who o have have learn learned ed not not to ever give honest estimates. They have formed habits of hiding the actual state of their work, giving vague reports like “90% done but  we have some technical problems problems”” or having a perpetual “coding”

task that they move back and forth on the task board.1 Others feel that th at th the e da dail ily y st stan andu dups ps ar are e st stup upid id —– it ta take kess wee eeks ks to impl implem emen entt this feature anyway so what need is there to report every day? Territory   — Scrum can also be a threat threat to people people’’s territory territory.. Fo Former rmer project managers that are now relabeled ScrumMasters or Prod-

uct Owners suddenly find that they have lost a large portion of  their former decision power. power. Deep specialists are forced to open up their work to the scrutiny of others. others. Sof Softwar tware e archit architects ects find that teams are doing unauthorized changes directly into the code base. Existence  — Some people see agile methods as a threat to their existence ten ce in the org organi anizat zation ion.. The These se inclu include de line man manage agers rs who whose se te team amss ar are e su sudd dden enly ly se self lf-o -org rgan aniz izin ing; g; tes teste ters rs wh who o lear learn n th that at all all test test-ing will soon be automated; or specialists who learn that they are

in fact not so special. To the the va vast st ma majo jori rity ty th that at is no nott di dirrec ectl tly y in invo volv lved ed in driv drivin ing g th the e ag agil ile e tran tran-si siti tion on,, Sc Scrum rum is a ca caus use e of an anxi xiet ety y or ou outri trigh ghtt fear fear.. How do they they re resp spon ond? d? 1 When we see a task named “coding” coding”,, this gives us the signal that the team is tracking 

how they spend time rather than the outcome they produce. 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

Fight   — Direct and in indirect direct attacks. Badmouthing. Spre Spreading ading fear fear,, uncertainty certai nty and doubt. Passive Passive-agg -aggress ressive ive behavior behavior in the Scrum meet me etin ings gs.. “H “Her ere, e, let me he help lp yo you u wit with h tha that. t. . . oo oops ps,, so so sorry rry..”  Appearing to play along for a while, then a sudden explosion of  this-will-never-work. And so on —– the examples are countless. Flee   — Some people grab the opportunity and mo move ve to other teams or esca es cape pe the the co comp mpan any y al alto toge geth ther er.. Th The e de deci cisi sion on to flee flee is of ofte ten n made made early, sometimes as soon as the news has broken, but it can take

months for the fallo months fallout ut to appea appearr. By the time people start understand sta ndin ing g an and d ac acce cept ptin ing g th the e ne new w me metho thods ds,, they they ha have ve alre alread ady y ma made de new commitments and signed new contracts, and the decision is no longer reversible reversible.. Freeze   — A su surp rpri risi sing ngly ly larg large e nu numb mber er of peop people le se seem em to lo lose se th thei eirr dr driv ive e and become unable to produce anything of value for months on end. en d. They They ar are e ta tapp ppin ing g on th the e ke keyb yboa oarrd an and d movi moving ng the the mo mous use e but but nothing real comes out.

In almost every team we work with, we find examples of fighting, freezing and sometimes, but luckily very seldom, also of fleeing. This model has helped us make sense of why people behave irrationally during an agile deploy deployment ment.. As an agile coach, it is your job to navigate navigate people pastt thi pas thiss sta stage ge of anx anxiet iety y. The mai main n pro proble blem m is ho how w to do that when people are not thinking rationally.  Y  You ou will need to start by identifying and addressing their concerns, showin sho wing g tha thatt the chan change ge is hap happen pening ing on their own terms terms.. We hav have e noticed that it is good to have a brief  meet brief  meet and greet   greet   with the team befor bef ore e the coac coachin hing g star starts. ts. Thi Thiss cou could ld happe happen n in conj conjunc unctio tion n wit with h some team training or as a stand-alone meeting between 20 and 45 minu mi nute tess in len lengt gth. h. Dur urin ing g th the e me meet et and and gr gree eett we go th thro roug ugh h th the e upcoming coaching schedule, point out that we are here to support Challenges

 

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and guide the team, and underline that things will happen on their own terms.  With especially afflicted persons, we have also had good luck with informal one-on-one coffee discussions, alleviating their fears and giving  ideas for how to move forward. Sometimes the best approach is to just listen and make it clear that you have heard their concerns. In the end, agile adoption is about teamification and while you may be able to help peo pe opl ple e fin find d th thei eirr new po posi siti tion onss in the the te team am,, th ther ere e ar are e alw lway ayss goi oing ng to be

people who need to make some hard decisions for themselves.

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SCARF

Because agile methods introduce new patterns of communication and decision power, power, this will obviously have an impact on the existing social networks and patterns. SCARF is a model for understanding the drivers of huma human n so soci cial al be beha havi vior or.. In th this is co cont ntex extt it ca can n he help lp expl explai ain n so some me of the the fears and dislikes people show when subjected to an “agile adoption adoption”” or “ag agil ile e de depl plo oym ymen ent” t”.. Al Alth thou ough gh th the e mo mode dell itse itself lf is we well ll de desc scrib ribed ed by Da Davi vid d Rock (2008), we will recount the key points here. Similar to the lizard brain model that we covered previously, SCARF descri sc ribe bess lo loww-le leve vell th thre reat at or re rewa ward rd sc scen enari arios os in the the am amyg ygda dala la:: pe peop ople le un un-consciously try to minimize threats and maximize rewards. We do this by tagging stimuli as either “good” (associated with rewards) or “bad” (associated with threats) and try to respectively approach or avoid such stim stimul uli. i. The mo mode del, l, ssho hown wn in fig. fig. 8.3, 8.3, co cont ntai ains ns five five di diff ffer eren entt so soci cial al in inte terraction domains: Status Status,, Certainty Certainty,, Autonomy Autonomy,, Relatedness and Fairness. Fairness.  We  W e will describe them next. Status  — Your importance relative to other people, pecking order, seniority niori ty.. Hig High h status is linke linked d to low lower er stress, better health and a longer life. Being subjected to pecking and mobbing activates the 

 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

Figure 8.3: SCARF

same areas as physical pain, and even the perception of a reduction in status can cause a stron strong g threat reac reaction. tion. Peo People ple may defend irrational ideas in order to avoid the threat and pain associated with a loss of status. For exam example ple,, we of ofte ten n se see e or orga gani niza zati tion onss wh wher ere e pr proj ojec ects ts are are stro st rong ngly ly li link nked ed to th the e Pro roje ject ct Manag anager er or PO PO,, to the the po poin intt thatt peo tha people ple tal talk k abo about ut “P “Pete ete’’s pro projec ject” t” and “L “Lind inda a’s pro projec ject” t”.. Reprioritizing Linda’s project over Pete’s may cause a perceived incr in crea ease se or loss loss in st stat atus us,, tr trig igge geri ring ng gloa gloati ting ng from from on one e an and d complaints from the other. Fighting to get a position on the most strate str ategic gicall ally y imp import ortant ant pro projec jectt bec becom omes es mor more e im import portant ant tha than n collaborating on getting all projects done. Challenges

 

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Statu tatuss is de decr crea ease sed d wh when en pe peop ople le re rece ceiv ive e un unwa want nted ed inst instruc ructi tion onss or technical advice, or are subjected to public shaming or criticism. Public acknowledgement, acknowledgement, recogn recognition, ition, promotions etc. increase status. Working on a well-regarded team can also increase status. Certainty   — Y Your our perceived ability to predict the future future.. This is important because the brain works as a continuous pattern-matching  machine. Your senses continuously give feedback that your brain

filters filte rs an and d ma matc tche hess wi with th kno known pa patte ttern rns, s, an and d adju adjust stss your your ac acti tion onss accordingly. If something feels out of kilter — e.g. your foot slides sideways when walking — your brain immediately refocuses on the urgent issue. This immediate need takes attention away from  your long-term goal. Continuous uncertainty, uncertainty, such as not know know-ing your role in this new agile process, can disrupt people’ people’ss ability  to produce results. Becaus Beca use e th the e me mere re perception  perception of of pred predic icta tabi bili lity ty is wh what at co coun unts ts,, pe peoople are happy to believe in project plans even if they rationally  know that the software project failure rate is immense. People are al also so ha happ ppy y to enga engage ge in dept depthh-fir first st pr prob oble lem m solv solvin ing g ev even en if wi widt dthhfirst problem solving (e.g. the wisdom of crowds) would result in better solutions. Conflicting visions, overly large goals, time-limited job contracts and org organi anizat zation ional al cha change ngess can inc incre rease ase the uncerta uncertaint inty y and make people people feel concerne concerned. d. Clear objective objectives, s, reachable reachable goals goals,, credible plans and solid careers increase certainty certainty..

 Autonomy   — Y Your our sense of bei being ng in contr control ol of events events.. This is somesome what similar to Certainty Certainty,, but reflects your own ability to to control   control  the future rather than your ability to predict  to predict  it.  it.

Micro-ma Micro -mana nagem gement ent re reduc duces es peo people ple’’s aut auton onomy omy,, whi which ch can be very debil debilita itatin ting. g. All Allow owing ing peop people le to arrang arrange e the their ir wo worki rking  ng  

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

enviro envi ronm nmen entt an and d ch choo oose se th thei eirr to tool ols, s, pi pick ck th thei eirr wo work rk ta task sks, s, choose their working hours etc. can have a positive effect.  Working in a team also reduces the autonomy because the indi Working viduals have less say. However, there are increases in status, certainty,, relatedness and fairness that makes the sum total positive. tainty Relatedness   — Your sense of being safe with others, of being  surrounded by “friends” rather than “foes”. This likely stems from

humano huma noid idss ha havi ving ng li live ved d in tri tribe bess an and d flo flock ckss for for hu hund ndre reds ds of  thousa tho usands nds of years, years, whe where re strang strangers ers ar are e pot potent ential ial com compet petito itors rs and likely to cause trouble. The need for relatedness is a good mechanism for team-building. Having a strong team identity helps, as does informal meetings,  water-cooler discussions as well as mentor-style relationships. In com compan panies ies wit with h tal talll hie hierar rarchi chies, es, lon long g bud budget geting ing cyc cycles les and complicated incentive systems people can start perceiving other groups as foes. This leads to withholding of information, internal politics and eventually to siloing  to  siloing . Spe Speciali cialists sts who wo work rk alon alone e or are often shifted from project to project can also suffer from low  relatedness. Sharing food, alcohol or other mild stimulants help people relate, thereby ther eby redu reducing cing this threat threat.. For For exam example, ple, in many cultures it is traditional to serve vodka, coffee or tea during important meetings because this helps build a kind of temporary relatedness. Fairness  — Your perception of exchanges being equitable. Unfairness is lin linked ked to int intens ense e ne negat gativ ive e emo emotio tions ns such such as dis disgus gust, t, whi which ch make ma kess th this is a su surp rpri risi sing ngly ly stron strong g di dime mens nsio ion n of hu huma man n so soci cial al intera int eracti ction. on. It can drive peop people le to e.g. e.g. spend sign signific ificant ant spar spare e time tim e on bui buildi lding ng ope openn-sou sourc rce e sof softwa tware re,, tak take e un unpai paid d lea leave ve to volu vo lunt ntee eerr fo forr th the e Red Cr Cros osss or th thro row w th them emse selv lves es in fron frontt of  advancing tanks. Challenges

 

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There are many things that can ruin the sense of fairness, including internal internal politics and unclear strateg strategic ic decision decisions. s. We also see problems related to pay discrepancies, individual incentives and fake rewards i.e. “Employee of the Month” -style awards. For example, a certain company moved their headquarters to the countryside far outside a majo majorr metro metropolit politan an area. Thous Thousands ands of employees were forced to take long commutes and were not amused  when they noticed that most of the executives lived in an upscale

residential area nearby. Fairness can be increased by improving transparency and communication, by establishing clear expectations, and by having the same rules apply to everyone including top managers.

In an agile transition, the SCARF model can help us understand why  different people react in different ways. Traditional command and controll organ tro organiza izatio tions ns ar are e oft often en “bu “busin siness ess mon monar archi chies es”” or “tec techni hnical cal mo monar nar-chie ch iess” wh whic ich h me mean anss tha thatt ma mana nage gers rs or tech techni nica call lead leadss are are ac accu cust stom omed ed to receive rece ive the rew rewards ards:: they enjo enjoy y highe higherr status status,, they provi provide de directio directions ns and action plans, they decide who does what, they contr control ol the budge budget, t, they decide who is in the team and who is not and they can choose to share or withhold information. The team, on the other hand, is under threat. Their status comes from how well they can serve the manager and they depend on the manager to provide plans for the future. They have little autonomy autonomy,, receiving designs and action requests from elsewhere. Furthermore, they are often  working on individual individual goals, and things like stack ranking and large discrepancies in pay undermine their sense of relatedness and fairness. In an agile organization, the most important thing is to ensure that the team can work as effectively as possible. The team receives the rewards, and an d the ma mana nage gers rs ar are e th ther ere e to fa faci cili lita tate te an and d supp support ort.. Th This is ch chan ange ge is bo both th rap apiid and di disr srup upti tiv ve, an and d it may co com me as a sh shoc ock k to many any manag anager erss and and 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

technical leade technical leaders. rs. Often Often,, they try to retain their rew rewards ards and avoid the threats by making agile go away.

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Infl nflu uenci encing ng beha ehavior vior

 We have found tthe  We he two models mentioned above ver very y useful in understanding why people resent the new and scary agile methods. Often the best approach is to sit down over lunch or a cup of coffee and make it clear that while roles are going to change, nobody is getting fired. The people involved will also be in control of the process (after an initial boot-strapping period) and you will be there to help people become proficient.  As an aside, it can help to take a so-called “ yes, and ” approach and build on top of suggestions posed by the organization. Using Microsoft Project Proj ect for backlog man managem agement? ent? Yes — and let’ let’ss see if it has a team board view. view. Full traceability from requirements to test cases? Yes — and this means that we should ensure that the requirements are testable (train (tr ainin ing, g, wo works rkshop hops, s, han handsds-on on coa coachi ching) ng) and tha thatt the tra tracea ceabil bility  ity  report can be generated automatically. automatically. The second half of this chapter covers a couple of more structured approaches. The first approach is to collect data. If the data supports your hypo hy poth thes esis is,, yo you u ha have ve a ca case se fo forr pu push shin ing g a po pote tent ntia iall so solu luti tion on.. Othe Otherwi rwise se,, drop it and do something something else else.. The secon second d approac approach h is to desig design n and carry out safe-to-fail experiments, in a way that is transparent and involv vo lves es as ma many ny peop people le as poss possib ible le in th the e pr proc oces ess. s. Th This is lo lowe wers rs th the e fri frict ctio ion n and resistance resistance.. Challenges

 

 

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Building your case on metrics “All All op opiini nion ons s ar are e not eq equ ual. al. S Som ome e ar are ea  very great deal more robust, sophisticated and wel elll sup uppo port rted edoth in lo log gic argume ment nt than others ers.” .” and arg

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Doug Do ugla las s Ada dams ms

Many problems are complex, and the more people they involve, the more complex they tend to be. Formally Formally,, a complex problem has causal chains that are partially obscured, multi-linked or cyclical. More pragmatically,, a complex situation can have several likely causes and the somatically lution lut ions s may hav have e un unint intend ended ed sid side-e e-effe ffects cts.natur . In a com comple sit situat uation ion people ple can argu argue e for a very long time about the nature e of plex thexproble problem. m. peo Pe People ople may even disagree about whether the problem actually exists or not. The great quote by Douglas Adams that we chose to open this chapter  with states that opinions should be founded in logic and argument. We  would like to add to the list and underline the importance of  metrics    metrics . Metri etrics cs ar are e th the e fo foun unda dati tion on of empi empiric rical al pr proc oces esss co cont ntro rol. l. Wh Whil ile e op opin inio ions ns can be hashed and rehashed until the cows come home, it is difficult to argue against hard data. One approach for resolving complex situations is to collect data and quan qu anti tify fy th the e pr prob oble lems ms.. Mak ake e a ti tick ck on a pi piec ece e of pape paperr ev ever ery y time time so some me-thing occurs or count the bright red post-its on the board at the end of the sprint. sprint. After After you have collect collected ed enou enough gh data data,, ana analyz lyze e it to see  whether the issue is large enough to make into a business case. Ho How  w  many times times does this happen per spri sprint? nt? Ho How w much time do we lose and an d ho how w mu much ch do does es th that at co cost st us us?? How long long does does it ta take ke fo forr ou ourr prop propos osed ed solution to pay itself back? 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

 All things can can’’t be expressed as money money,, though. t hough. One team member was complaining about people entering the big open office area and asking him for direction directionss to other team teamss and individ individuals uals in the area. We asked this team member to note on a piece of paper whenever he felt distur dis turbed bed.. At the end of the sprin sprint, t, he had to his ow own n sur surpri prise se bare barely  ly  collected three such inciden collected incidents. ts. This put the problem problem into perspective, perspective, and he agreed that the issue was smalle smallerr than he thought. Eve Even n so, the

team ideated and executed executed a coupl couple e of solutions solutions,, including including pastin pasting g an area map and a “do not disturb” sign on the wall beside his desk.

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Safe Safe-t -too-ffail ail exper xperim imen ents ts

There Ther e ar are e se seve vera rall di diff ffer eren entt me mech chan anis isms ms you you ca can n rely ely on in orde orderr to lo lowe werr the threshold threshold and reduc reduce e the risk for trying out new things things.. One such mechan mech anis ism m is to crea create te ch chan ange ge pr prop opos osal alss co colla llabo bora rati tive vely ly,, so th that at yo you u ge gett more ideas for proposals and the chosen proposal gets a wide buy-in.  We  W e touched on this approach in the chapter on “Structured “Structured Coaching Coaching”” (sec. 7) and it is applicable to all kinds of proposals.  Another mechanism is the approach known as “Which Arm?” The name comess from the questi come question on you are asked when donatin donating g blood: whic which h arm should should we dra draw w the bloo blood d fro from? m? The end res result ult will be the sam same e in any case — you will lose half a liter of blood — but it gives you the perception of being in control. How do does es “Whi “Which ch Arm?” re relat late e to exp experi erimen ments? ts? Well, ell, man many y compa compa-niess hav nie have e a sta static tic perspect perspective ive on org organi anizat zation ion.. The They y bel believ ieve e tha thatt the current curr ent setup is stable and that any change requ requires ires energ energy y. The more agile approach approach is to assum assume e that change is inevitab inevitable: le: the question is in which direction direction to guid guide e it. In the conte context xt of orga organiza nizationa tionall chan change, ge, avoi av oid d as aski king ng “Sha hall ll we tr try y th this is pa part rtic icul ular ar pr prop opos osal al?” ?” an and d inst instea ead d try try as askking “Which of these proposals are we going to try next?” This obviously  requires more than one proposal and a method for comparing them. Challenges

 

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 A third mechanism is to frame the proposal as limited time pilot or experiment. We try it out for a sprint or two and assess whether it is heading towards towards succe success ss or failu failure re.. If it looks like it’s it’s going to fail, we cut it short and revert to our previous process. If it looks like it’s succeeding,  we let it run until we are sure, then embed the new method into our ways of working.

It turns out that for a proposal to be a  safe to fail experiment  it experiment  it is es sential to have a way of dampening the side effects, a kind of rollback  plan. The rollba rollback ck can be time cons consumin uming g and expensiv expensive e but it must be doable. You will also need to list some early indicators of impending  failure. For many years now, we have used the Cynefin the  Cynefin complexity model   model   for sensem sen semaki aking ng by Snowd Snowden en and Boone Boone (2007) (2007).. The mod model el has man many  y  implic imp licati ations ons,, for exampl example, e, tha thatt org organ aniza izatio tions ns are are com comple plexx and tha thatt plann pla nnin ing g and exec executi uting ng a cha change nge prog program ram is fut futile ile.. Org Organi anizat zation ional al change can however be directed. Dave Sno Snowden wden has created a compact template for defining safe-to-fail experiments aligned with the Cynefin model. mode l. It helps ensur ensure e that the proposal proposalss are coher coherent ent and motivat motivated ed but also that you are watching for early signs of failure and have a solid, clear roll-back plan. Snowden advocates running several experiments in parallel with differSnowden ent parameters and ensuring that at least one is oblique  is  oblique  and   and another is naïve . An oblique experiment does not attack the root cause but rather focuse foc uses s on more eod ofap the symp symptom toms. s.oble Thi This s can lead d in totrac valu valuabl able le lear arni ning ng and andone ca can nor bemor a go good appr proa oach ch fo for r pr prob lems ms th that at lea lo look ok intr acta tabl ble ee. Naïve experiments are set up without much analysis or even thought. Usually th this is would iinvo nvolve lve thro throwing wing m money oney (o (orr consul consultants tants.. . . but we are repeating ourselves!) at the problem to make it go away. Have you considered hiring a hex doctor to exorcise the bugs from your code lately? No? It may be a stupid idea, but it is also a valid experiment that is both oblique oblique and naïv naïve. e. There is no logic logical al analy analysis sis behin behind d it and 

 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching

 

it fo focu cuse sess di dirrec ectl tly y on th the e issu issue e (b (bug ugs) s) ra rath ther er th than an unde underl rlyi ying ng root root caus causes es (you are not preventin preventing g bugs effectiv effectively ely enough enough). ). Experi Experience ence tells us that this this particu particular lar expe experimen rimentt is unlik unlikely ely to wor work k as plann planned. ed. . . but in some organizations it could be a useful learning experience with beneficial side effects. Using all three mechanisms mentioned above, and working on a Kan-

ban board, it is possible to evolve an organization by probing, sensing  and adapting.

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Try this

1) At the end of sec. 8.2 we described described a trad tradition itional al comman command-an d-anddcont co ntro roll or orga gani niza zati tion on us usin ing g th the e SC SCAR ARF F mo mode del. l. Wh What at wo woul uld d an agil agile e organizat orga nization ion look like? Take a mom moment ent with a likelike-mind minded ed colleague/friend and try to build a SCARF case for a hypothetical hyper-agi hyper -agile le organizatio organization. n. Then com compar pare e the two SCARF cases cases..  What do you see? What could you do to alleviate the issues? 2) Tak ake e a mo mome ment nt to refr efres esh h yo your ur me memo mory ry on th the e co conc ncep epts ts of coac coachhing cards cards and coa coachi ching ng struct structur ures es in sec sec.. 7. How do they differ differ from the safe-to-fail experiments outlined in this chapter?

Challenges

 

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References

“So long, and thanks for all th the e fish.”

— The Do Dolp lphi hins ns in The Hi Hitc tchh hhik iker er’s ’s Gu Guid ide e to th the e Gal alax axy y (and the the ag agiile le  coa oach ches es))

 Adkins, L., 2010. Coaching agile teams: A companion for scrum masters, agile coaches and project managers in transition. Addison-Wesley Addison-Wesley..  Agile Manifesto, Manifesto, 2001. Cooperrider, D.L., Whitney Cooperrider, Whitney,, D., 2005. Appreci Appreciative ative inquiry - a positive revolution in change. Berrett-K Berrett-Koehler oehler Publishers. Derby, E., Larsen, D Derby D., ., 2006. Agile rretros etrospecti pectives: ves: Mak Making ing goo good d teams great. The Pragmatic Programmers. Goldratt, E.M., Cox Goldratt, Cox,, J., 2004 2004.. The goal: A process of ongoi ongoing ng impro improvevement, 20th anniversary. ed. North River Press. Katzen Katz enba bach ch,, J. J.,, Sm Smit ith, h, D., 19 1993 93.. Th The e wi wisd sdom om of team teams. s. Harvar arvard d Bu Busi sine ness ss Review Press. Kimsey-House, H., Kimsey-H Kimsey-House, Kimsey-House, ouse, K., Sandahl, P P., ., Whitworth, L., 2011. Co-active coaching. Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Ringelma Ring elmann, nn, M., 1913 1913.. Rec Recher herches ches sur les moteu moteurs rs animés: Trava ravail il de Challenges

 

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l’homme. Annales de l’Institut National Agronomique, 2me série 12, 1– 40. Rock, D., 2008. SCARF: A brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others. NeuroLeadership Journal 1, 44–52. Satir,, V Satir V., ., 1964. Conjoint fam family ily therapy. therapy. Science; Behavior Books, Palo

 Alto, CA. Sheridan, R., 2013. Jo Joy y, inc.: how we built a workplace people love love.. Penguin. Snowden,, D.J., Boone, M.E., 2007 Snowden 2007.. A leader’ leader’ss framewo framework rk for decis decision ion making. Harvard Business Review. Ste telt lter er,, R. R.,, Han anse sen, n, S.E. S.E.,, Mølle øllerr, L., L., Hol olmg mgre ren, n, A. A.,, Ro Rose senk nkvi vist, st, G. G.,, HansenHan sen-Sko Skovmoe vmoes, s, P P., ., 2005. Coa Coachin ching g - læring o og g udvik udvikling ling.. Dans Dansk  k  Psykologisk Forlag. Storch Sto rch,, J., Søholm, T T.M., .M., Juh Juhl, l, A., Dahl, K., Molly Molly,, A., 2006. Ledel Ledelsessesbaseret coaching. Børsens Forlag. Tuckma uckman, n, B. B.W W., 1965 1965.. Deve Developme lopmental ntal sequen sequence ce in small group groups. s. Psy Psy-chological Bulletin 63, 384–399.  Weick, K.E., Roberts, K.H., 1993. Collective mind in organizations:  Weick, Heedful interrelating on flight decks. Administrative Science Quarterly  38, 357–381.  West, M.A., 2012. Effective teamwork: Practical lessons from organiza West, tional research. John Wiley & Sons.

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Agile Coaching