Why I wrote a book on agile coaching

A while ago (9-12 months) I was responding to a typical Linkedin online discussion/debate on agile coaching competencies; do we ask open questions or tell people answers to their agile problems. Lots of opinion and commentary, passion and of course the usual people getting offended when the discussion ends up getting personal.

I remember the day I started to take some of the commentary personally; I got emotional and caught myself getting too invested in silly abstract debates. There was a problem in our industry and no one had yet solved it in a way that was easily accessible to all. Here's the problem I saw that was the motivating force behind me writing a book about agile coaching

Training for agile coaches focuses on the competencies an agile coach would use but there is no model on how, when and where each competency should be applied.

The other issue that was bugging me relates to linear learning pathways offered by the accreditation industry where the "coaching" competency is learned at the end of the "agile" theory and practice knowledge. Which is ok if you want a career as an agile coach but I didn't think it catered for people with low agile knowledge who want to learn coaching now, today! The current accreditation bodies only let you become an accredited agile coach if you learn lots about agile first. Of course this makes total sense for those wanting to have the role title of agile coach and pursue this as a career, but what about change managers, leaders and others who need some agile knowledge but want to be able to coach from the knowledge base they have? How do they actually deliver a coaching conversation relating to the adoption of agile as a way to work.

That's why I wrote a book on agile coaching NOT how to be an agile coach. Of course the book will help those wanting to pursue the role of an agile coach but the book also caters for a broader audience making it more accessible.

I ended up writing is a book that compliments the accreditation industry and is in no way in competition to replace existing bodies of knowledge or the learning approaches of say ICAgile, Scrum or SAFe. In fact I provided my early manuscript to a SAFe fellow and two CSTs for review; here's what Mike Cohn said about the book;

I was one of two coaches initiating an agile transformation at one of the internet’s largest dot-com businesses. After a meeting, the CEO turned to me and asked, “Is the other coach any good? He doesn’t say much in meetings.”

I told the CEO the other coach was indeed very good. I pointed out that although he didn’t say much, when he did say something, it was usually insightful, helpful, and just what the team needed at that moment.

Ever since that meeting years ago, I’ve looked for ways to help agile coaches—both new and experienced ones—do what that coach did: know when and what to say as well as when to be silent.

In Niall McShane’s Responsive Agile Coaching I’ve finally found what I’ve been looking for. In this book, Niall presents a framework for deciding how to coach. The model is simple enough it can be learned and applied in the moment as coaching opportunities arise.

I am confident the advice in Responsive Agile Coaching can help any agile coach improve."

When I first spoke to my publisher he asked me a simple question; "Why are you writing the book Niall?" My answer was simple, I just want to add to the body of knowledge our passionate community has developed over the years. I wanted to stop arguing on Linkedin and try to lead the thinking forward with a well-considered, researched book; taking the time to put my thoughts down on what I thought the answer was to a complex problem worth solving. The book is now available on Amazon and I truly hope you give it a read.

p.s. to keep up to date on my thinking on this topic:

• join my little email list
• check out the website & blog or
• join the free agile coaching community
• coming to the book launch and hear from Arie van Bennekum; co-author of The Agile Manifesto