I saw this wonderfully courageous and informative post by Sabine Canditt the other day where she wrote about Sustainable Scrum.  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sustainable-scrum-responsible-choice-sabine-canditt-x0gef After just completing a The Week program facilitated by the amazing Ann-Marie Kong, it touched my heart. That said, I wanted to highlight one comment reaction/interaction between Sabine and Erich Bühler  Erich said— Thank you for bringing this approach into the world! Scrum does provide an iterative approach for teams to create value, but its scope is limited to the pr ..read more

I talk a lot about the first step in coaching any client (individual, system, team, etc.) is to build a relationship, gain empathy and understanding, and then gain an idea of where/how to help initially. So, do NOT start to coach until you’ve done some relationship-building.  But what does a coaching relationship, or a professional relationship in general, look like? What are aspects of that? Here are a few things that come to my mind— Making + taking the time. Explaining what you do—what is Agile Coaching. Building some empathy; walking in their shoes; understanding where they are ..read more

I recently replied to a LinkedIn post by David Pereira. It was a wonderful post, and I applaud David’s boldness and courage in sharing it.  Here’s a post comment from Stefan Wolpers— While I agree fully with your personal stance regarding professionalism, David Pereira, some people will shy away, given the current economic climate. Some of the previously aggravated people may seek an opportunity to settle scores. And here’s my comment— I love the clarity (No BS) here. Clarity for David and clarity for those who want to work with and who don't want to work with him. That said, Davi ..read more

And, NO, not that AI.  I became aware of Appreciative Inquiry perhaps two decades ago. I read a book on the subject and it literally changed the way I was leading folks in my organization. Influencing me to shift my leadership mindset and thinking from— Deficit versus Asset thinking Strengths versus Weakness thinking Positive versus Negative thinking Affirmative versus Denial thinking Learning Organization versus Status Quo It also inspired me to become more aware (and appreciative) of— Becoming much more strengths-based in my self-awareness and leadership approaches. Ampl ..read more

I want to offer two discussion threads for your consideration. Both are from LinkedIn and are quite critical of the place of/for Professional Coaching (leadership coaching, personal coaching, life coaching, ICF coaching) in Agile Coaching contexts.   Huy Nguyen initiated the first discussion, and Francesco Bianchi initiated the second. I’ve only pulled a small selection of the comments from each post—so I would encourage you to read the entire thread. In the end, I plan on drawing some of my inspiration and conclusions from the discussions. Partly as a wrap-up but also to provide some per ..read more

Savita Pahuja is an agile coach who is a principal in CoachingSaga. I’ve met her in user groups for some years, and her balance, thoughtfulness, and experience have always impressed me.  She recently wrote two articles about reflective practice and self-reflection for Agile Coaches that I want to bring to your attention— https://www.coachingsaga.com/blog/reflective-practice https://www.coachingsaga.com/blog/self-reflection-for-coaches-mirroring-technique From an Agile Coaching Growth Wheel perspective, reflection is one of the foundational elements of Self-Mastery. I’d encourage you ..read more

Marcia Reynolds posted this recently on LinkedIn – Many leaders think it is easier to give advice than to take the time to coach others to find their own solutions. They don’t realize they are wasting time instead of saving it. When you tell people what to do, your primarily access their short-term memory in their cognitive brain, where learning is least effective. They either comply or resist, and often do not remember the details of what you shared. This is why we refrain from telling people what to do in coaching. We activate their creative, generative brain! Creative insights are lasting ..read more

I had breakfast with my friend and colleague Leon Sabarsky the other morning, and we discussed the common evolutionary paths for many agile coaches.  We came up with two primary directions if you will— One is focused on moving from a background in software product development and then adding or emerging your Agile Coaching skills. Indicators of this direction include— I’ve developed software and products (Developer) I’ve tested those products (Tester) I’ve developed release pipelines (DevOps) I’ve developed architectures and requirements (Architect, Business Analyst) I’ve worked ..read more

They are not the same! Conflation – Definition the act or process of combining two or more separate things into one whole, especially pieces of text or ideas. the process or result of fusing items into one entity; fusion; amalgamation. I was listening in on a discussion the other day between two coaches. One raised the point that there was no place for practicing therapy in professional or life coaching. They emphasized that there was a line to be drawn between coaching and therapy. That is—professional coaches were not therapists, and they shouldn’t go there. And it was a challenge because c ..read more

A Case of Shiny Object Syndrome? I watched a demonstration of a seasoned coach providing coaching supervision to another agile coach the other day. In both cases, these were coaches who coached in agile contexts. So, they walked the line between operating as a Professional Coach (ICF) and an Agile Coach, who provides much more breadth of coaching than Professional Coaching. It was a virtual session, so perhaps 40-50 agile coaches were observing. I could tell that everyone was intently following the conversation as it unfolded. I was enthralled as they artfully constructed a coaching conversati ..read more