As agile coaches, we all face impediments when it comes to making agile transformations happen in an organization. Dealing with corporate bureaucracy is most times the hardest part of the transition. So, what about the federal government and all that red tape? Learn how two coaches have made it happen, leading and coaching an enterprise agile adoption (principally Scrum and FDD) at two agencies within the federal government space. Think you’ve dealt with bureaucracy? Come hear what it’s like to deal with the ultimate in corporate bureaucracy!

Self-organization of human beings is a tricky thing. Agile coaches are constantly challenged with how to motivate/persuade/trick their teams into doing things, without telling them what to do, but there is very little information or training on this topic. Allowing a team to self-organize along the lines of “oh well, they’re all adults, they’ll figure it out” is just as irresponsible as reverting to the command-and control school of management. This tutorial presents an approach utilizing leading-edge research and techniques from social complexity science and team dynamics.

An Intuit process “Agile Done Right” (ADR) was created to ensure agile is used properly to maximize business results & minimize process problems. It requires an agile coach like those used in Intuit’s successful SEI’s Team Software Process (TSP). Coaches ensure the process is “done right” & help fix any problems.

Internal coach training was created to develop project-embedded coaches & to raise the overall level of agile maturity. We look at that training program including the agile syllabus, brief ADR overview, coach’s “dirty dozen” meetings, learning methods, etc.

Human relationships are at the center of the Agile manifesto. Anything we do as coaches to allow humanity expression in our teams directly affects the individuals’ ability to live the manifesto more fully. This immediately translates into better, more astonishing, creation-ability in teams, and a greater sense of accomplishment and fulfillment for the team members. In this session, experienced coaches/trainers Lyssa Adkins and Tobias Mayer will introduce ‘Powerful Questions’ and share their personal experiences of coaching teams and individuals towards a more human-centric way of working.

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” – Chinese Proverb

Agile teams that rapidly learn and apply new-found skills become increasingly adept at embracing change and delivering value. Team members feel more fulfilled, motivated and valued. And they have way more fun!

In this session you will learn about agile learning! Learn to recognize learning moments and put in place effective learning patterns tuned to your team and context. Learn how to build and sustain an effective learning culture on your agile team.

Agile coaches attempt to influence teams in different ways. Our experience is that agile coaches typically work by instinct and intuition. This makes it very hard to explain what coaches do and difficult to teach people how to coach agile teams. Richard Hackman claims in his book “Leading Teams” that there a three basic types of coaching intervention: Motivational, Consultative, Educational. We want to test out that theory and explore about what Agile Coaches really do. We aim to uncover specific coaching interventions that participants have tried and whether these interventions helped.

To enable the Agile Value “Courage”, we have to empower internal coaches, project managers, team leaders, and team members to change the organizations culture. Only a coach (or a manager / executive in his/her role as coach) is in the position to initiate and keep this process alive. Thus a coach has to be able to:

• make human systems transparent
• reduce or adjust complexity
• enforce dialogues and solutions
• set and enact clear goals
• build trust in the team and in the customer collaboration
• focus on sustainable decisions
• clarify conflicts

Inkubook.com came into existence in March 2008 when an existing software development and marketing organization received a new CEO and was immediately tasked with building an entirely different product. This report discusses the evolution from the existing Scrum process through four major changes as the team’s process shifted to meet the team’s goals and management’s demands. Focus will be given to the barriers benefits that the team perceived with each stage. Where possible, a discussion of the unintended consequences of the team’s actions will be explored with specific examples.

A participatory workshop where coaches can share their experiences in coaching agile teams in hostile environments, what they did to avoid the pain, and how they turned toxic organizational inertia and attack against itself or circumvented the same to realize more agility. The session will be facilitated and will be oriented around capturing tricks, tips, and techniques, but will also allow for some sobbing and frustration and ranting. Epic fails are definitely welcome. The most sought after stories and ideas will be those which use the opposition’s own strength to advance the effort.

Coaching helps communities produce real value and grow sustainable agility. Successful coaches know the importance and value of treating each community as unique, helping the individuals and the larger community find a “groove” (style) that truly helps them deliver. If you are coaching or getting ready to coach, and you want to learn a pile of pragmatic coaching tools, based on years of coaching agile projects, this session will pass your tests.