Why Agile Coach or Scrum Master?

"Good Coaching may be defined as the development of characters, personality and habits of players, plus the teaching of fundamentals and team play" - Clair Bee

The success of (Agile) Coaching is a function of the team taking actions and believing in (their) values and principles (of Agile) and also coming out of comfort zone. In the Agile world, when this doesn't happen, it sometimes costs a Scrum Master's (or Agile Coach's) job since the teams don't take actions, organizations don't implement/practice the Agile Values/Principles and they don't alter their mindsets. 

In one of my conversations with a Project Manager, he raised a concern that his customer had questioned him about the Scrum Master's contribution to the team. The comparison of the Scrum Master was done with Developers for no of story points delivered, with testers for the number of test cases/bugs found and with the Product Owners for a number of features delivered to the customers. Unfortunately, the Project Manager had challenges in justifying or quantifying the value added by the Scrum Master. His point of view (as well as of Customer's) was that the team does everything. Why we need a Scrum Master? Instead, a developer/tester can be added to the team to increase the output!! The customer was also not willing to get billed for no quantifiable output from the Scrum Master. 

Are you familiar with such situations?

Scrum Master's (even Agile Coach's) effectiveness is measured based on the impact they create within the team or in the organization. There is no direct measure of the effectiveness of the value delivered by the Scrum Master alone.

The effectiveness of a Scrum Master is a function of :

1. all the team members' outcome against the baselined parameters before the start of the transformation initiative

• the quality, cost, and schedule achieved by the team
• the progress (predictability) of the project to all the stakeholders
• customer satisfaction (through regular surveys) and NPS on the value they receive

2. response to implement the changes requested by the customer

3. employee morale and employee satisfaction

When the same question was asked to the Project Manager -- how his contributions/billing is justified or quantified, he said -- sets the goals, he does performance appraisals, gives directions, resolves the issues, communicates with the customer/stakeholders, resolves conflicts and monitors & controls the team to be in alignment with the project goal(s).

I asked the following questions to him if the team is able to -- 

•  deliver sprint on sprint (or each iteration) as per commitment?
•  plan each Sprint effectively?
•  provide visibility to all the stakeholders?
•  get and set the expectations with the Product Owner?
•  resolve their challenges on their own?
•  capture the feedback from the customer?
•  realize their lessons from each sprint and act upon their improvement actions?

......... etc

In every question above, the CONSISTENCY is the key i.e. the above actions performed by the team are consistent throughout.

I also asked him -- "If the answer to all of these questions is YES, then either you are already playing the role of a Scrum Master and you don't need another Scrum Master OR the team is absolutely Self Organized or it is a high performing team! No Scrum Master is required for this team!!". 

In the above scenario: 

• probably the customer is not able to see the difference or get the value from the team
• the customer may not be able to get the visibility into the project 
• probably the commitment from the team is not adhered to
• customer may not be happy with the quality of the product be ing delivered (in sprints)
• the communication and collaboration by the team may have been poor
• And, probably the Scrum Master is not executing his/her responsibilities in getting the team together... etc

It is also very essential for the Agile Coach/Scrum Master and the organization/customer to get into a mutual agreement (contract) about the expected outcome before the start of the engagement. Derive the baselines, start measuring against the baseline parameters and keep showcasing the outcome regularly. 

If the Project Manager/Customer thinks or decides not to have an Agile Coach/Scrum Master, it is like BCCI deciding not to have Coach(es) for the Indian cricket team. The cricket players like Virat Kohli or Bhuvaneshwar Kumar or other players needn't be taught how to bat, bowl or field. They have already been there due to their competence. The Coach ensures that the players are able to manage or help them exploit some of their hidden potentials to be at their best performance(s) for the country. If the team consistently doesn't perform, first the team members are dropped/rested, and then the Coach is replaced.

Despite the resistance from the team members to change, the Agile Coach/Scrum Master needs to win and influence them through communication, empathy, and logical reasoning. I believe that coaching focuses on helping the team learn in ways that let them keep growing. It is based on asking rather than telling, on provoking thought rather than giving directions and on holding the team accountable for their goals.

However, it is also very essential for the Agile Coach/Scrum Master to enable the team to FOCUS on delivering VALUE, getting the team COMMITTED to the vision, creating a TRUSTED environment, empower the team to be COURAGEOUS and OPEN MINDED.