I care not for this agile coach, bring me another!

Coaches disrupt the comfortable status quo.

We ask uncomfortable questions, ask people to try new things, and challenge their opinions.

Coaches cause rebellion. Why is this?

When folks work, it will be most comfortable for them to work like they always have. The trouble is, working like they always have won’t realize any bold objectives. It will just get you the status quo.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) can be an excellent tool here when used appropriately. Looking to your Key Results, you’ll be able to measure whether you’re at the status quo, or whether you’ve succeeded in advancing it.

It’s common for a coach to be met with skepticism when suggesting modern practices like Cross-Functional Teams, Mob Programming, Infrastructure-As-Code, or Test-Driven Development (TDD).

That’s fine. I don’t care if a team uses TDD so long as they have well-designed code and an effective unit-test suite. That’s the intended outcome, and I value results over specific actions.

Despite my own experience telling me that TDD is the best way to achieve well-designed code, that’s my experience not theirs. Why would they trust it?

When I suggest TDD, I’m mentoring. I’m asking the team to do something different that I’ve seen be effective before. Sometimes folks are open to that suggestion, and by coaching them to do it correctly, they will learn through affirmative experience as I did.

If the team is not open to my suggestion, there is no point in pushing the issue. Without the willingness, there can be no coaching through execution and no learning. At this point, the team must choose their own learning path.

When the team chooses their own path, they own their success or failure.

Success moves them directly towards your objectives. Failure brings learning that will change their approach and get them closer to your objectives.

Giving the team an appropriate answer as a mentor might get to short-term results faster. Still, it won’t anchor as profoundly as if they arrived through their own path. Are you looking for short-term or long-term impact?

Maybe they arrive at TDD on their own, or perhaps they find something better. Either way, they learn something. Maybe I will learn something too.

If folks aren’t open to mentoring and aren’t willing to question their reflexes, that’s when an Agile Coach is blocked. Depending on how hard a stance the coach takes, this impasse will probably make some noise.

Maybe even a rebellion.