Look at your hat. It says “Agile Coach”. I know, it’s a weird choice of hat, but where you work, everybody’s got a hat, some folks wear more than one, and this is yours.
How do you stand in this hat? Well, depending on how much you’re responsible for the client result (“doing, in the present”) or the client growth (“doing, in the future”), there are 9 ways to stand, per a popular diagram by some Dandy People.
Yet from my experience, there are 2 main flavours of stance, based on what the client is expecting when you roll up to ‘em, wearing that hat:
- consulting: “I don’t have time. Just fuckin’ tell me what to do.”
- coaching: “I have some time. Get me to see what to do.”
In both cases, your hat says you’re paid to help them with what to do next. And that thing, that next thing, that next thing you have some input on, is hopefully perceived as worth what they’re paying you to wear that hat. (Heck, instead, they could’ve printed a developer hat!)
So whether you’re peddling yourself as
- a magician of “aha” moments,
- an empathetic ear,
- a resource in their back pocket,
- a cheerleader in their corner,
- a trusted advisor,
- an accountability partner, or
- a parental force of high expectations & tough love,
your client will walk away with a thing to do next. It may not have been explicitly stated by you… it might be a new approach, an old idea, or a boost of confidence to actually do a thing.
So what’s #TheNextBigThing?
- It is one actionable item of continuous improvement.
- It is one experiment that you could do, which you would do.
- It is ONE low-risk try to have things suck less ‘round here, and maybe even be awesome.
Want a low bar for earning that Agile Coach hat, or Scrum Master hat?
Craft the Next Frontlog Item.
Oh, and it’s totally safe to try this at home, too.