Champion: A person who fights or argues for a cause or on behalf of someone else.

Catalyst: A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without
itself undergoing any permanent chemical change.

Capacitor: A device used to store an electric charge.

Coach: A tutor who gives private or specialized teaching.

In our first article, we discussed the broad areas where an Agile Coach (or CSP-SM) makes an impact.  In our second article, we talked about what an Agile Coach does.  In this concluding entry, we identify some intriguing patterns that bubbled to the surface from our list of sixty-five tasks for an Agile Coach.  

  1. An Agile Coach is a business value champion.  While an Agile Coach may not be directly responsible for the definition (that would be the Team) nor the delivery of business value (that would be the Product Owner, they take on the responsibility and leadership. An Agile Coach strives to truly see the big picture, to consider the entire end-to-end delivery of value and to identify and fix the gaps.
  2. An Agile Coach is a catalyst to growth and expansion of Scrum and Agile.  Through their passion, experience and continuous learning, they are bringing new ideas and perspectives that stir up greater change within the team and the business.  Dedicated Agile Coaches are never satisfied with the status quo.
  3. An Agile Coach shores up an organization’s investment in Agile by preventing entropy or deterioration, the backsliding to pre-Agile behaviors, practices, thinking and culture.  Organizations have a need and desire to revert back to the status quo.  A well-trained Agile Coach is the energy one needs to subvert a universal constant to return to what is familiar when under stress.
  4. A CSP-SM aligns with many aspects of an Agile Coach as defined by IC Agile.  A CSP-SM does not think in terms of a single team, but multiple teams.  They are a resource for ScrumMaster and other types of Agile team leaders.  They help start up new teams and encourage consistency in application in Agile values and principles.

An Agile Coach is a business value champion, a catalyst for change, a capacitor for Agile practice, and a coach for all teams, not just their own.