Observations

Do I know your team better than you do?

I was pondering the value of team coaching recently. My conclusion was that coaches are awesome and you should definitely hire them. If you are a hiring manager then there is no need to read on - just be assured that you will get a positive ROI on agile coaches - the more you have… Continue reading Do I know your team better than you do?

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Observations

Time, energy or focus?

I was thinking about time management and I realised I was just sitting there, letting my mind wander. Is that good time management? When people talk about time management I often assume they mean "planning how to allocate our time." I think that is valuable, because I have often found myself the victim of my… Continue reading Time, energy or focus?

Agile development · Leading change · Observations

My agile coaching mindset is unstable and evolving

In my last article, I compared agile coaches to the catering corps in the army, saying that we support the troops rather than leading them or engaging in heroics. Cooking and cleaning for the heroes sounds like like a humble, servant leader thing to do. But does that metaphor really drum up an image of… Continue reading My agile coaching mindset is unstable and evolving

Observations

Agile coaches – special forces or catering corps?

I was talking to someone recently about becoming an agile coach. I am an agile coach so I told them that coaching is a cool thing to do and agile is a cool thing to be involved in. Annoyingly though, they are already agile and their team is already working well as a unit. They… Continue reading Agile coaches – special forces or catering corps?

Observations

Goal trees and goal wording

I set different goals, sometimes as small as a todo list item, such as "reschedule meeting" and sometimes as large as "Expand human settlement to at least 3 new star systems". Some goals are tracked diligently, while other are simply ticked off a list when they are achieved. Some are incredibly short term (do before… Continue reading Goal trees and goal wording

Observations

Daily reflections for positive change

I just completed a course on positive psychology. More accurately, I just completed a a Coursera specialization made up of 5 courses on positive psychology. It was a great course, with some great theory and a lot of meaningful practice. It was full of small things you can do to improve your life and also… Continue reading Daily reflections for positive change

Observations

How do I know that is true?

I help teams be "more agile." My favourite approach is to help them build a culture of self improvement. I figure that if we get that right, then the team will invent all the agile things that they need. An extremely basic approach to getting better This should work in theory, but it means the… Continue reading How do I know that is true?

Capability growth · Observations

What does an agile coach actually do – is it really that simple?

In my last article, I explained what I think agile coaches do in practice. But I did not reveal some of the complications and messy bits that get in the way of adopting the model in any sensible way. So in this article I will explore some of the complexities and messy bits. Where we… Continue reading What does an agile coach actually do – is it really that simple?

Capability growth · Observations

Extending the coaching agreement – what do agile coaches actually do?

In my last article, I discussed what I think is NOT actually agile coaching. This time I will tackle the tougher challenge - what does a good agile coach actually do? A quick word of warning though - this simple question seems to have resulted in a long article. I apologise for not making this… Continue reading Extending the coaching agreement – what do agile coaches actually do?

Agile development · Arguing · Capability growth · Observations

Extending the coaching agreement – when is an agile coach not an agile coach?

I was talking to some experienced agile people and we started to discuss "agile coaching." We agreed that it was a great idea and that everyone should have an agile coach. But then we realised that we did not mean the same thing when we said "coach." We did agree on some things, like being able… Continue reading Extending the coaching agreement – when is an agile coach not an agile coach?