Why The World Needs More Prescriptive Agile Coaches · Why The World Needs More Prescriptive Agile...

Why The World Needs More Prescriptive Agile Coaches

Bob Galen

President & Principal Consultant RGCG, LLC

[email protected]

Copyright © 2016 RGCG, LLC 2

Introduction Bob Galen n  Independent Agile Coach (CEC) at RGCG, LLC n  Principle Agile Evangelist at Velocity Partners

n  Somewhere ‘north’ of 30 years overall experience J n  Wide variety of technical stacks and business domains n  Developer first, then Project Management / Leadership, then

Testing n  Senior/Executive software development leadership for 20+ years n  Practicing formal agility since 2000 n  XP, Lean, Scrum, and Kanban experience n  From Cary, North Carolina

Bias Disclaimer:

Agile is THE BEST Methodology for Software Development…

However, NOT a Silver Bullet!

Introduction

n  prescriptive n  /prɪˈskrɪptɪv/ n  adjective

q  1. making or giving directions, rules, or injunctions q  2. sanctioned by long-standing usage or custom q  3. derived from or based upon legal prescription: a prescriptive

title

n  Too Prescriptive vs. Too Soft

n  The search for “Just Right” Copyright © 2016 RGCG, LLC 4

Agile Coach A Broad Definition

n  When I say coach, I’m implying, you could be in one of these roles: q  ScrumMaster q  Formal Coach q  Manager / Team Leader q  Senior Leader q  Project Manager

n  Virtually anyone who is guiding an Agile Transformation…


One Side Too Prescriptive


n  Excessively telling n  Close minded n  One way to do things n  Basic tactics focused n  Disaster prevention n  Scrutiny n  Fast feedback

The Other Side Too Soft


n  Never telling n  Myriad ways of doing

things n  Advanced teams n  Context matters n  Let’s see n  Discovery n  Fail friendly

Prescriptive Coach DocOnDev

n  Coach: May I give you some feedback on your stand-ups? n  Client: Sure. That would be great. n  Coach: I've noticed you don't address the three questions in your

stand-ups. I think you'd find stand-up to be of higher value if you did. n  Client: Oh. We tried that. It felt really disconnected. This way feels

more like a team. n  Coach: Well, I don't know if you've read the book on Scrum, but the

stand-up serves a very specific and important purpose. It's important, in order to maximize the benefit and not waste people's time, that we cover what was done, what will be done, and any impediments. Let's tell the team we're improving the format and start with the three questions on Monday. Sound good?


Agile Coaching Context & Direction

n  Coaching contexts

q  What steps have you taken before

q  Maturity – Shu-Ha-Ri q  Culture and norms q  Business implications q  Safety implications q  Team implications q  Your skill & comfort zone q  Organizational support

n  Coaching Scenarios

q  Team centric (down) q  Leadership centric (up)

q  Peer centric (laterally)


9 Coaching Roles Derby & Gray, (Douglas Champion, Davie Kiel, and Jean McLendon)


More prescriptive

…

Less prescriptive

…

Copyright © 2016 RGCG, LLC 11 11

Shu Ha Ri Aikido – first learn, then detach, finally transcend

n  Shu q  Novice or beginner; narrowly following given practices

n  Ha q  Journeyman; following, but extending, perfecting, occasionally

breaking the rules q  Mentoring in specific strength areas

n  Ri q  Expert; perfecting to creating your own practices q  Coaching; mentoring; ‘Sticky’ practices

Copyright © 2016 RGCG, LLC 12 12

Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition

n  5 stage model for skills acquisition: 1.  Novice – rigid adherence 2.  Advanced Beginner – limited

situational perception 3.  Competent – some perception

of actions in relation to goals 4.  Proficient – holistic view of

situation; prioritizes importance of aspects

5.  Expert – transcends reliance on rules; intuitive grasp of situations based on deep understanding

6.  New stage – Innovation

While a three phase model is simple, you could easily replace it with a Dreyfus derived model…

Crucial Conversations


n  In agile contexts, leadership feedback is essential q  Sprint & Release reviews q  1:1 meetings q  Real-time opportunities

n  I have a view that pareto rules here in that only 20% of leaders are willing to give 80% of the feedback

n  And it needs to be honest…

14

The “One Thing”

When it comes to risky, controversial, and emotional

conversations, skilled people find a way to get all relevant information out into the open.

That’s it. At the core of every successful conversation lies

the free flow of relevant information. People openly and honestly express their opinions, share their feelings, and

articulate their theories.

They willingly and capably share their views, even when their ideas are controversial or unpopular.

-- Crucial Conversations: Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler

Copyright © 2016 RGCG, LLC

Two-Thirds of Managers Are Uncomfortable Communicating with Employees


I don’t have the “energy” for it…


http://rgalen.com/agile-training-news/2016/2/20/is-it-worth-the-energy

Powerful Questions Lyssa Adkins and Co-Active Coaching

n  They are often: q  Truly open-ended q  Not asked with a “correct”

answer in mind q  Invite introspection q  Reveal additional solutions q  Almost always lead to

greater creativity and insight q  Send people into a realm of

discovery

n  The are not: q  Leading q  Judgmental q  Imply solutions q  Closed q  Tricks


Powerful Questions

n  What else? n  What is important about that? n  What would a simpler way look like? n  What would an experiment look like? n  What’s already working that you can

build on? n  How does it look to you? n  What is stopping you? n  In the bigger scheme of things, how

important is this? n  What is the lesson from that? n  When is it time for action? n  What part is not yet clear? n  Whose opinion matters on this topic?

n  What have you tried so far? n  What is stopping you? n  What’s the worst part for you? n  What is your prediction? n  If you got it, what would you have? n  In the beginning, how did you want it to

be? n  What other angles can you think of? n  How do you really want it to be? n  What’s the worst/best that could

happen? n  Which part is confusing, surprising,

annoying, etc.? n  What is at risk? n  What might “help” look like?


Workshop Dynamics

n  You’ve been given a hand-out with ~20 coaching scenarios

n  Break into groups of 3 (Triads – Coaching Dojo) q  Coachee, Coach, Observer

n  Right half - “prescriptive”, left half - “soft” n  Pick 2 coaching scenarios OR create your own n  Explore coaching strategy; capture notes on the card;

role play!


Workshop Dynamics

n  Let’s debrief some of the scenarios…care to share? n  Pick another 2…rinse & repeat n  At the end…

q  Any patterns you observed? q  Any anti-patterns q  When is it “ok” to be prescriptive?


Contact Info Bob Galen Principal Consultant, RGalen Consulting Group, L.L.C.

Experience-driven agile focused training, coaching & consulting

Cell: (919) 272-0719 [email protected] www.rgalen.com

@bobgalen https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobgalen

Podcast on all things ‘agile’ -

http://www.meta-cast.com/

22 Copyright © 2016 RGCG, LLC 22

Backup


References

n  9 Coaching Roles link: http://www.growingagile.co.za/2016/03/the-9-coaching-roles/

n  Agile Coaches Dojo link: http://www.agilexp.com/presentations/AgileCoachesDojo.pdf

n  DoconDev: http://docondev.com/blog/2013/07/coaching-anti-patterns-prescriptive

n  HBR article: https://hbr.org/2016/03/two-thirds-of-managers-are-uncomfortable-communicating-with-employees

n  Powerful Questions: http://www.agilecoachinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/PQ-Cards-4-to-a-page.pdf

n  Laloux model: http://www.agileforall.com/2015/04/laloux-cultural-model-and-agile-adoption/


Laloux Culture Model http://www.agileforall.com/2015/04/laloux-cultural-model-and-agile-adoption/

n  RED – Powerful Leader q  Compliance, fighting chaos q  Command Authority, Division of Labor q  Mafia, Gangs, Militia

n  AMBER – Army q  Hierarchy, Stability, Strong Control q  Taking a long term, Processes, Roles q  Public schools, Churches, Governments

n  ORANGE – Machine q  Competition in/across, Profit and Growth, Leaders goals q  Innovation, accountability, meritocracy q  Most corporations today


Laloux Culture Model

n  GREEN – Family q  Customer, shared values, High

Employee engagement q  Balanced needs of

stakeholders, focus on culture over strategy, empowerment

q  Southwest, Ben & Jerry’s

n  TEAL – Living System q  Anti-fragile structure, flat roles,

evolutionary purpose, distributed decision-making

q  Wholeness, self-management, evolutionary purpose

q  Patagonia, Morningstar, Crisp


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