The role or function of an agile coach can be be a bit of a challenge to wrap your head around if it is new to you. Depending on your situation and on agreements with people in your organization, an agile coach could work with a wide range of responsibilities. It could be working closely with a team to improving aspects of the whole organization.
When it comes to coaching a team it can be confusing for team members what type of relationship is natural for them to have with an agile coach. What’s in it for us? What is required from us to get something out of this?
Some basic things are needed to establish a good foundation for such a relationship. Getting some of them out in the open can help. To clarify what this foundation can look like I created this image a few years ago. It is meant to be used as a starting point for a conversation or negotiation between coach and team.
If you are a coach yourself I hope it can help you explain to your team what type of relationship you can offer them. If you are a member of an agile team I hope it makes it easier to understand what an agile coach can do for you, what it will mean for you to have such a relationship and what you can expect from it.
If you prefer an easy to print document, here is a pdf-version – My Role as Coach (pdf).
