Personal Workbook For an Agile Coach V1.0

Every year is unique but 2021 has been a self-reflective year for me & i am sure for many others like me.. I re-started my habit of journaling daily.

The most alluring experience I gained through my public agile coaching dojo. I met some amazing people who helped me to give shape to my ideas, experiments and those struggles.. I know there are many popular programs on capability upliftment of adults but i feel combination of training, e-learning, books with self -discipline & growth mindset needs a direction, of course the decision is self but mentorship helps. Group and peer learning brings a new dynamic to your perspective.

From all these learnings , I got an inspiration to create a small workbook. This workbook can be a handy tool kit for any one but may be more related to agile coaches, Scrum Masters and Agile PMs. Please use this as reference as it may be something very simple stuff for seasoned coaches & leaders..

I have used it myself for a quarter and sharing with you. I am experimenting an iterative approach to create and update this workbook. Based on your feedback, my own learning i will keep on improving this article. Currently its a Step by step ritual approach and later we can convert into more cohesive workbook or Playbook

The key idea to design this workbook is to try answering - What is the biggest challenge as a Coach/SM we face? I talked with few and top most are:

1. Multitasking - multiple teams/programs handling, different models, different people, style of leaders, type of org/org culture, VUCA world scenarios
2. Making Right Choices - What next? Which Model/technique, What should i pick to learn
3. Personal Growth - Role choice, monetary, designation, kind of programs to pick, certifications/trainings etc.
4. Measuring own Performance & Impact- how as a coach/sm i made a difference in the team, what impact i brought in team success
5. Am I a right fit to be a Coach - this is unique and most important, i discovered it for myself you can try too. Refer STEP FIVE

How to read this article in form of workbook?

I am trying to design this article so that we can get maximum from it. Use the below format

• Every Step which is written as header2 is a separate block, so you can follow that one at one time. It will take your 5-8 mins.
• Pick a diary and pen - First ask yourself what are the challenges you are facing in your role and write it at top. Few I have gathered and trying to address are above, if your challenge is still unique. We can discuss 1-1.
• Each exercise mentioned /image added - you need to perform as activity and observe the outcome. (Some highlighted images are where I struggled too)
• Write top 5 quotes that will reflect your personality/Value/Principles as Coach - Mine you will find throughout the article
• We can name the attempt/experiment as " Focusing on Personal transformation Q12022" . Our agile project is to identify our top challenge and work towards it. While resolving that challenge we will make sure we apply our Growth mindset, rituals/ceremonies, atomic habits, one agile model scrum/kanban. Do it with determination, rhythm and will power. Pick a date and start this workbook
• Share with yourself what you learnt - write your progress, click picture and I am always around if you want to share it with me /discuss
• Jump around in any step/section. I have tried to do logical breakdown. First you can read article and then you can tryout sections you want.
• PS- all the hard work is yours only, i am just sharing a technique. This will atleast need 4-5 hours of effort per week and lot of self-discipline. Believe me, it will worth of your energy. I have experimented with few - as it was FREE , few gained maximum & many took it for granted. Only difference was I was around to check on progress & help DOJO format.

STEP ONE

1. Write on first Page - " Self transformation Project - Agile Coach V20.22" ( Be creative) ..think what is One unique Goal you want to complete this Quarter/Month that will help you to overcome your challenge ... (We all get some project/Epic/Feature/User story) like this in work environment too.
2. By now I am sure, you should have glanced through entire article, write in notebook what are learnings you want to achieve - a) The biggest challenge you would like to overcome b) 3 things i would like to journal today/this week c) After i finish this entire workbook, I hope i have learned

Let's get going, please answer few questions below -

a) Ask yourself, do you journal your learnings daily as a Coach? If yes take step b - Else focus for next 2 days on writing your day learnings (don't use gadget in beginning later you can shift) b) How have you planned this Q1 2022? Have you clearly written your High Level Goal, Monthly Sub-goal, Weekly Objective to achieve the Big Goal. To begin with just focus on one. For example we are taking a sample " As an Agile Coach /Agile-Lean Practitioner, I want to improve my skills, techniques this quarter so that I can improve in a role of Program Level/Tribe Level/ Agile Release Train Level/ Multiple Squads/Product Level Coach" . Though it has been written in a User Story format but its more like an Epic - It could be a 5 yearly Goal if you have just started as Scrum Master but you can build your example. Start with your Mission, Vision & then Goal( refer step Y for further details)

so here we are starting with end in mind. Its written in a plain simple English. the key steps are to follow now ... c) Re-write this big goal in to small sub-goals (further to M1, M2 , M3 kind of objectives) . I am picking the example to Transformation Mastery for M1 Goal, M2 Goal for Facilitation and M3 Goal as Business Agility. This is similar to when we divide our Epic in to Features. Simple language and clear thoughts are the key here , more details you add, more crisp your actions/activities will be along with the results

d) Your attitude will define you, think big - act bigger. When you are at this step it is very important to re-affirm that I am at the right time, right place and in great mindset to perform this goal. My goal is big so are my intentions. Plus I COMMIT to this Goal for a month and will perform all the actions needed with full strength, focus & dedication. Now Re-look at your bigger goal and prioritized this month goal, clarity on the relationship. Now we will write how this goal will help us in our current role or in our journey. In next 5 years i want to be Executive Leadership Coach, so the deep understanding on transformation, facilitation and business agility will help me to perform my role better. In my current role also these capabilities will help me to be better enterprise coach/tribe coach.

e) When the Vision has a mission & purpose that are aligned to goals - each action taken towards that journey help you to achieve the results... now re-read the sentence and make sure this month/sprint everything you prioritize to work upon as your Agile team does - everything is in Alignment. Vision -> Mission -> Goal -> Objective -> Task -> Activity to achieve a result. Let's use the acceptance criteria to Perform a Task. As my M1 - Goal ( too aspirational) is to enhance the Transformational Mastery - Lets work to achieve this Goal in Sprint with 1 week Iteration. Each Iteration we can achieve 1 major goal by performing some set of tasks along with 2 key aspects Agile Mindset, PDCA loop and Ceremonies/rituals from scrum. At a high level my backlog have key things/objectives to do : M1O1 - Understand the Agile Coaching Competency Framework ( Coaching Agile teams by Lyssa Adkins) and many blogs are available around it. M1O2 - Agile Mindset, Value, Principle, Growth Mindset - understanding & your own content . M1O3 - Agile Coach Style , you need to understand what are typical styles and what is your key style & creating patterns to mix or change your style - this is huge task , every year you will add new stuff in this . M2O1 - Coach as a Facilitator - understanding of this stance of coach.. these are samples you can create 3-4 of your choice

STEP TWO

This step is most important and about execution. For an agile team & for an agile coach, Planning is vital but the real value is in execution, small iterations, reflecting on the steps performed/activities, change what is not working & re-plan.

1. Choose the day (Preferably Friday evening ) when you want to kick-in using this workbook. Don't focus on too much planning, just try to have few extra hours in hand for couple of weeks & small sacrifices that you are ready to make. Hope you have performed step 1 earlier , if not please do it now... the more clarity in step1 - better is execution.
2. We need 1-2 hours to perform this point. There are 3 points that you will focus specially - your new rituals/habits , your self-awareness & consciousness , your strong will & commitment. If these things are in practice already , you are ready to write activities else move to Step Z
3. We are breaking our Objectives/Tasks in to further steps like concrete actions, so granular that you can mark as done /not-done. So let's start with M1O1T1- To understand the Agile Coaching Competency Framework , I will go through the Chapter of book, articles and adding on what experiences are covered in transformation Mastery. The transformation mastery is about - Transformation Mastery is focused on change leadership, organizational change, facilitation, and helping organizations transform and evolve.

Now these are key actions you need to undertake in depth

a) What is Change Leadership, How I enable this as Coach, Am I acting as Lean Change Coach, Leadership styles. What have been my experience around styles of different leaders, how they have influenced the transformations.

For this detailed topic you need to set 4 things : your current knowledge about the topic, what are the 5 things you need to know more, how much time you think you need to spend on this topic and once you complete the first iteration of the topic what all things you must have clarity on.

4. Once you have activity list prepared, now you need to write 3 rituals you will perform daily example A. Planning my day ( divide your day in 4 hours blocks) and find time to put this goal, I have set aside two time 6:00 - 6:15 am to pick up what activity i can pick based on the work/over all schedule and 30 mins i will spend on learning/reading/.. ( 8:30 PM - 9:15 PM) for this month B. Reflect on my new ritual as useful /useless C. What value I can get from this as a Coach

always write some results that are encouraging like habit of journaling helped me to find out that there are many topics i know but don't have depth in that topic. I was able to identify what are the areas that i am procrastinating. we are lazy to few actions not all...

5. Its okay to weekly retrospect on what actions you were able to take, what are still pending and WHY you were not able to do it. Appreciate your efforts on accomplished work & re-look on what's pending. You can't change your Goal now - all of sudden, make sure the task you are choosing for next week is aligned to transformation mastery/competency.

Believe me once you have done this self-transformation, your all behavioral /mindset challenges that you face with team will become easy to understand.

6. Improving your practices and techniques along with your way of working. Pick 5 practices that you would like to improve - a strong tree have deep roots similarly an awesome coach has strong tool kit of practices /techniques that will keep on learning. As you are achieving your goals/objectives also learn different techniques to perform the task in an effective way. So first step is to perform a task & second step is to learn new techniques to improve . This is similar to first asking a transformation team to adopt SCRUM framework and then slowly adding techniques from Lean, XP, Kanban to bring improvements in the teams. so few practices that you can adopt are - Effective retrospectives , Inception workshops (Lean Inception ),

STEP THREE

Doing a different step can also you to create effective rituals/habits/improvements in your working style that may be a Paradigm shift. First we need to understand, observe and assess what is our current stage. I am huge fan of Agile Fluency so as you have stages to help teams to build new capabilities and progress, similarly as an Agile Coach you mature in your learning & experience journey. Focus, Deliver, Optimize and Strengthen should be your mantra to learn each new area. Example Focus to learn the transformation Operating models, Deliver few models/projects and understand the working of operating model, create an approach that you feel is optimized way & may help teams to operate better, Strengthen your learnings/techniques and use those to help teams perform in a better manner.

• Paradigm : What's paradigm ? It is the way you see something or practice, your point of view, your experience that made references in your frame of mind or your beliefs. You think you are right unless someone mentors or Coach you. In this VUCA and Pandemic world we are noticing that our ways of working might be wrong or no longer suitable. So, as we introduced agile mindset and ways of working as paradigm shift in software development world, we as Agile Coach need to go through. Major areas that I can see from my journey that needed a Paradigm shift for me were - Clean Language usage, Emotional Intelligence, Pomodoro applicability , Multi-task/Focus Task, Cynefin.. So to improve you just need not to learn you need to bring a Paradigm shift in the way you understand, practice and experience things. Plus there are Paradigms of Self that you need to re-affirm (Paradigm builder with help of friend, mentor or coach could be another key point if you see lot of challenges to pursue your journey as a coach)
• Draw/Chalk your Own journey based on your self identified talent, passion, purpose and individuality. There are many good books that help you to find your IKIGAI, or your style/profession. I became Coach by chance but later i took every step by choice. I created my 5 year plan , somethings continued and few I changed over time but my career goal, professional alignment, role i want to perform has not much deviated. So key step in your Agile Coach journey will be to keep an end in mind for next 2-3 years and then take steps towards it. This is similar to a roadmap we will create to move a team towards Agility. We start with one model, keep improving, pick a framework - learn/adjust , Scale and then strengthen.

• Important aspect from Coaching Agile teams that has inspired me alot is the image where i myself have spent time in educate, facilitate and feedback but over the years I figured out Notice & Support helped me more to perform

How to draw your roadmap or Journeymap as a coach l

STEP FOUR

Many time we encounter a question that "Is this right career choice for me?" Am i really enjoying what I am doing. I went through the same journey - Coming from technical background I really enjoyed coding, testing and leading a team. It was corporate progression but I felt completely me when I worked with people enabling them as leader. May be in future i would like to be a CEO of a small firm but for next 10 years I still see Coaching, mentoring & leading transformation as my Role. I really enjoy doing all (People, process, technology and culture). Here is a rapid fire round on question i encounter -

Q1- Can Project Manager pick up AC role? - Our own Lyssa Adkins is perfect response that from which role you can transition to this AC role, if you have Desire, dedication and discipline to be the one

Q2- How many trainings do I suggest for AC? - None, there is no training required in beginning, once you have chosen to be on this journey, understand what it takes to be an AC - you will find on your own. Better response is - when to choose & from whom..

Q3- How is AC related to Professional Coaching? - In the beginning you might need just understanding , you actually need it when you want to be independent consultant and influencing executive leaders. Coaching is a beautiful journey and it makes you life long learner.

Q4- How Day in a life of AC looks like? - Day may be different but an assignment looks like assess, Observe, understand current state and train on new way, Mentor for techniques and then Coach to let them find solutions once they have understood agile mindset/Models/techniques. Continuous assessment & guidance , pushing them towards relentless improvement first showing them and later fostering the environment that they keep pushing for excellence.

Q5- Who are most difficult to Coach? - Expert Leaders & Solution Architects :) but once they accept you as mentor, they will be best change leaders. I had been the same in past - so love working with them..

Q6 - What is one topic which still confuses me? Choosing right framework.

Q7- What is most interesting area for me? Product thinking, Project to Product, Product teams, Product Owner role, Product management

STEP FIVE

Finding yourself (self -discover) is the key step in the journey of every coach. No one can make you a Coach, they can polish your skills, capabilities but the key ingredient is you. This self discovery helps you to grow in this dimension. I am not a Life Coach trainer or Coach of Coaches as I am not qualified for that but it’s important to be AWARE & its my self learning from last decade….

As a First week , Spend some time with yourself. Be true to yourself. If you want you can share with me but i may ask you to repeat later once you complete this workbook. So this starts with my personal story, when I started finding myself as a Coach - what is the meaning of being a leader, coach or mentor. There could be many aspects that Life Coaches/Professional Coaches might guide you, but few aspects that I found helpful are - Describe yourself in one sentence. What kind of relationship you have shared with your team members (specially as leader)? What is your idea of procrastination & where are you doing it? What is something you recently discovered that is taking you towards this journey? What do you want from your life?

If you really feel the Coach journey is for you - there are many aspect about your character, Intelligence , personality that are equally important along with your experience on the ground.

My Toolkit as Agile Coach

Agile coaching is way beyond any toolkit, technique or practice & mindset. But ofcourse there are many useful items in your journey as a Coach. My favorite are

• a) TEAM CANVAS for new Teams b) Product Vision boards these two together helps me to drive a common understanding among team members and the product they are working
• Coaching starts a way later than you think but Coaching Canvas can be a handy tool to build some rapport and share your role as a coach with team
• Understanding on DevOps is important and I find SAFe articles simple and meaningful for a Coach. Spend some time on basics of DevOps and share the same with how agile & devops will move hand in hand. DevOps transformation Canvas where we have the AS-Is state of the team's development value stream (or SDLC or the flow of activities, people, apps, systems end to end to deliver value to the customer is noted). Its a time taken from idea/concept to idea delivered to customer. All phases, how much time (or delays) and how we can increase flow. Write first trigger step and last step Like Business owner give demand and BO sign off the Production release for that feature. Value stream map is useful from SAFe. Both these concepts are not for scaling but could be used for any kind of agile teams to show them how they can improve the flow. Many people think SAFe concepts are framework related but they are more Lean Flow & value related. You should know how and when to apply.
• Running workshops and not meetings . Liberating Structure, I started using from 2016 and have never looked back. My workshops are simple, agenda focused, time boxed and involve all. Try these here .
• Miro as a useful collaboration tool for remote teams. Many free templates are available to run those fun filled ceremonies or engaging workshops. It will take time but it is worth exploring these ideas. Agile templates .
• Running story mapping workshop with Product Owner can be made easy by following these simple steps. Story mapping workshop using Miro . Plus i found this article simple on how . I have used this technique alot in my PO role and later as coach. This is a simple answer on how do you chalk out your releases or create product roadmap in agile.
• Not related to agile workshops but on facilitation, this has been my fav article . Facilitation is an art that you learn with experience and practice like teaching. Only a simple tip is you should over do everything. Pre-planning and Post update make you unique. Neat end of any workshop make you a trend setter. Some good articles are SM as effective facilitator & AC effective facilitation

References

• Must have for a Coach - Coaching Agile Teams Paperback – Lyssa Adkins
• Agile Coaching by Rachel Davis
• To understand certification flows in Agile coaching ICAgile | International Consortium for Agile
• Listen to Video for Agile Coaching - What is an Agile Coach? Lyssa Adkins & Simon Powers - YouTube
• Competency Framework Blog - Understanding ACI's Agile Coach Competency Framework (helpingimprove.com)
• Agile Fluency Project: The Agile Fluency Model