Heart of Agile coaching wheel
I am a strong proponent of the Heart of Agile as envisioned by Alistair Cockburn . I value its simplicity and the significant impact it can have in supporting teams, regardless of their technical orientation, in their agile transformation journeys. Through this blog post, I aim to present a case study that illustrates how I am currently using it to coach teams with whom I am collaborating.
Understanding the Heart of Agile
In 2016, Alistair published an article where he reflected on the agile software development movement and rediscovered the roots of Agile in four words:
These four words represent the Heart of Agile for him.
So, if your team excels in collaborating, delivering, reflecting, and improving, then your team is Agile.
What is a Coaching Wheel?
A coaching wheel is a visual and straightforward tool to help you focus on the area you want to improve. You first identify the area you want to work on, then place it on the wheel to mark where you are starting from. After some time experimenting, you can revisit and see if you have made any progress.?
Utilizing the Heart of Agile
The Heart of Agile enables me to create coaching wheels with areas I want to focus on. After observing my team(s) and engaging with team members and stakeholders, I can create a coaching wheel.
In the image below, there are three areas I want to focus on and the post-its indicate where we are:
Once we achieve our goals, I will create a new wheel focusing on new areas of improvement.