As a professional agile coach, I've seen firsthand the amazing results that can be achieved by businesses that use agile methods and practices. Unfortunately, there's a growing trend of life coaches claiming to be agile coaches without any fundamental business knowledge or experience. It's time to call out this madness and reveal the truth about what authentic agile coaching is all about.
More and more companies are promoting life coaching courses to the agile market, and many people who want to become coaches think they should learn to be life coaches. This has led to a trend where agile coaches are being seen as life coaches, which is entirely wrong.
There's more noise than ever before about team welfare, psychological safety, collaboration, empathy, compassion, and more. While these are essential aspects of team dynamics, they have little to do with actual business and product development knowledge. Agile coaches need to have deep expertise in agile methods and practices, as well as business and product development.
So, have we gone mad and lost sight of what agile is all about? The answer is yes. Agile is about business and product development. It has always been and always will be. Team dynamics are vital, but they are not the point of agility. It's not about getting teams to frolic in the agile meadows singing, "but we are agile and we are free."
Agile coaching is a specialized form of professional business coaching that focuses on improving efficiency, productivity, and, ultimately, business success. Agile coaches have extensive experience and training in agile methods and practices. They use their expertise to help businesses deliver more value to their customers and make more money in the process.
It's time to get rid of the life coaches and focus more on a business coaching approach. We need to prioritize the importance of business acumen, product strategy, and a focus on achieving real business results. While team dynamics and personal growth are essential, they must be in service of achieving business success.
In conclusion, the madness of life coaches masquerading as agile coaches needs to stop. Agile coaching is a specialized form of business coaching that requires expertise in agile methods and practices and deep knowledge of business and product development. Let's leave the frolicking in the meadows to the life coaches and focus on getting businesses the results they need to succeed. It's time to put a stop to this life coaching madness and get back to the business of agile coaching.
Spot on Brett! There is huge serge of Agile Coaching and Scrum Masters in recent times who are more towards TED speaker crowd rather than knowing how the business and software development processes.