Joining an existing team as Coach

[George Paci]

All,

I'm joining an existing team as its Agile Coach this week. Most of my
experience is with teams where I've been there either from the beginning
of the team, or from the beginning of the Agile introduction. So since
I don't join existing, already-Agile teams often, I'm going to assume
I'm not very good at it.

What are some mistakes I'll probably make? What mistakes have you made
in this situation?

What are some good things to make sure I do? What have you done that
has worked well?

I should mention that they have a Sprint Retrospective next week, and
I'll be helping to plan it. I've been going to their standups for a
week, and have already met their Agile Lead and a couple other members
of the team.

--George

Code that doesn't get exercised becomes flab.

[Alan Dayley]

I'm a big fan of having one-to-one conversations with each member of the team. Schedule them all to happen within a week, 30 minutes each. During the meeting, listen and then listen more. Just ask questions to find out how they think the team is doing, how is the work, even just the weather. You will learn a lot about each person and get an improved picture of how you could help the team.

Alan

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Agile Coaching Support" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to agile-coaching-support+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Mike Bowler]

I predict that your biggest mistakes will be the assumptions you make about what they’re doing.  They’ll use words that imply that they’re following the practices correctly but when you actually watch what they do, you’ll be astonished :-)

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Agile Coaching Support" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to agile-coaching-su...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

Mike Bowler

Agile & Technical Coach, Gargoyle Software Inc.

Cell: 905 409-7052

Find me at LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr

[Tim Ottinger]

The biggest mistake you can make is to try to recreate your old team inside the new one. 

The second biggest is to assume they don't know what they're doing as well as you do. 

But your question is dangerous. It risks becoming an expert in error and failure. Let's go the positive route here:

Look for their uniqueness and skill. 

Join them first. A trick I use is to activate my ingroup bias. I tell myself that these are my people, my friends, my new best friends. When I insist on referring to them as my new friends in my head, I start to care more and grow more connected. 

Mind you I"m a consultant, so I get to rip my connections out periodically and go somewhere else, and that kind of open-heartedness does not make easy exits, but I think it's the right thing anyway.

Advice: Use COAL (David Rock):
     Curiosity - what is it like to be here? Who are we in this situation? What is this?

     Openness - whatever comes next, I'm here for the adventure. We'll see.

     Acceptance - Oh, that's what it is. Okay. It is what it is.

     Lovingkindness - What is the kindest, best thing I can do since we're here?

You'll do amazingly well. 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Agile Coaching Support" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to agile-coaching-support+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--
Tim Ottinger, Sr. Consultant, Industrial Logic
-------------------------------------
http://www.industriallogic.com/
http://agileinaflash.com/
http://agileotter.blogspot.com/

[George Dinwiddie]

Another biggest mistake is assuming that you should coach them. They're
probably not the ones who told you to do that.

Offer what you have. Ask them if they would like for you to help (show
them, teach them, whatever you're doing) and get them to agree.
Permission to help is essential. Requesting help is better. Inflicting
help on people hurts everyone.

- George

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
* George Dinwiddie * http://blog.gdinwiddie.com
Software Development http://www.idiacomputing.com
Consultant and Coach http://www.agilemaryland.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Christopher Avery]

All great thoughts here.

When newly entering an existing context I assign the condition of Newness. That means:

1.  ride into town quietly (not advocating your own status and expertise) -- this is the listen and be curious stance mentioned above
2.  put in communication lines (i.e., the meet one-on-one idea and other meet and listen ideas above)
3.  learn what is wanted and needed
4.  experiment with applying your knowledge and skills to provide what is wanted and needed

I have also had a lot of success with the Team Orientation Process as a Get Me Oriented To This Team process. This is a series of conversations:

1. 1. What are we a team to do? What is the singularity of focus (purpose, project, mission, assignment, etc.) that requires us to be a team?
2. 2. What's in it for you/me (beyond a paycheck) to be part of this singularity?
3. 3. What operating agreements are important either formally or informally, and can I (as the newcomer) support them?
4. 4. What do we each bring to this team this time? And what might I be ale to add?

For more, search for Team Orientation Process or "5 conversations every team must have" at ChristopherAvery.com or in Teamwork Is An Individual Skill. Good luck.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Agile Coaching Support" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to agile-coaching-support+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--

Christopher Avery

http://www.linkedin.com/in/christopheravery
http://twitter.com/christopheraver
http://www.facebook.com/christopher.avery2