Agile Coach, coaching more than one team?

[Gustavo Cebrian Garcia]

Hello !!

I would like to ask you about your experience coaching more than one team at the same time.

I have seen many job descriptions adverts about Agile Coaches. Bearing this in mind, if you could please give your opinion to these questions.

1- Can a Agile Coach/Scrum Master effectively manage 2 very junior teams.

2- Can an Agile Coach manage 3 teams, 4 teams, 8 teams !!

3- Is it really useful to have an Agile Coach not having a really good Scrum Master per team?

4- Can an Agile coach do some good work managing 10 teams on a very high level.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

Thanks.

--

Gustavo Cebrián

--

You create your own luck - Go and explore 

http://about.me/g.cebrian.garcia

[Markus Gärtner]

I tried being a Scrum Master for seven teams and can't recommend that.

If the teams don't have a Scrum Master, I would recommend against being a coach for more than one team.

If you have two junior teams, I would recommend bringing in a second coach.

Hope that helps.

best Markus

-- 

Dipl.-Inform. Markus Gärtner
Author of ATDD by Example - A Practical Guide to Acceptance
Test-Driven Development

http://www.shino.de/blog
http://www.mgaertne.de
http://www.it-agile.de
Twitter: @mgaertne

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[Pierre Neis]

​Actually I've been Scrum Master for 7 teams and Scrum Coach for 400 people and this is ... not good... definitively.

There is a huge difference between an organisation with a Scrum Master per team and one distributed between a couple of teams. You will see results in the first and consume budget in second.

Now, when you have a Scrum Master per team, you need some kind of Chief Scrum Master in charge for the org development this is the Scrum Coach. His/her mission is to supervise in coaching terms.

Agile Coaches are in between. You can find Agile Coaches for Engineering, for Testing, for Design, for Org.Dev., etc...

Regarding recruitment: forget the recruiters they don't have a clue, forget the advertisements but try to see who is hiring, what is the challenge, is Agile Coaching clear and full-time ... ​

	PierreNEIS Senior Lean Agile Coach | Associate M: +352 / 661 727 867 UK: +44 / 203 239 52 60 wecompany.me | You can book me Actually Scrum Coach for S4HANA/Hybris Billing @ SAP SE

[Ron Jeffries]

Gustavo,

On May 9, 2016, at 2:11 AM, Gustavo Cebrian Garcia <g.cebria...@gmail.com> wrote:

1- Can a Agile Coach/Scrum Master effectively manage 2 very junior teams.

Agile coaches and ScrumMasters do not “manage” teams. They coach, guide, serve. According to Scrum canon, ScrumMaster is a full-time job. A really good ScrumMaster might be able to serve more than one team but I’d not recommend it.

2- Can an Agile Coach manage 3 teams, 4 teams, 8 teams !!

If the effectiveness of an agile coach working with a single team is E then I’d expect their effectiveness working with more than one team to be between E/(n^2) and E/n.

3- Is it really useful to have an Agile Coach not having a really good Scrum Master per team?

I don’t understand this but coaching and ScrumMastering are, in my view, much the same thing, so either or both could be helpful.

4- Can an Agile coach do some good work managing 10 teams on a very high level.

Again, they do not manage. Some, yes. Not much, I’d expect.

Ron Jeffries

ronjeffries.com

Sometimes I give myself admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it.

-- Mary Wortley Montagu

[Kamlesh]

For each junior (new) team, one dedicated Scrum Master is recommended. At-least till the team is able to (bare minimum requirement I would say) self-organize and deliver every sprint. At this point there may be opportunity for one Scrum Master to serve (not manage) up to 3 teams working on one product, having one product backlog and that is owned by one Product Owner.

Some companies don't have a Scrum Master role rather they prefer to call this role a Coach. The dynamics and the need for effective facilitation, prompt impediment removal, educating + coaching the Dev team, educating + coaching the PO, shielding the team, helping the org. etc. still remain the same . If you've a coach but not a SM, then you may need a coach for every new team. 

Can one Air Traffic Controller oversee 10 flights taking off and landing at one time? (assume there are 10 runways). No. As she needs focused intervention for every flight, this situation invites waiting / delay, which is a waste. 

>> What would happen if a coach needs to serve 10 Dev teams / SMs / POs and their leaders all at one time? 

>> What happens when one of these 10 teams calls Mayday, mayday?

The number of teams ( working on one product ) one coach can support (not manage) depends on the level of involvement and the desired results. It could be 2 for some and 5 for others.

At 10 teams you loose the value that the teams, and the organization can get out of having a coach. Yes, now they can place a check mark on the list though,

✅ Have an Agile Coach

Cheers!!

Kamlesh Ravlani   Agile Coach and Trainer, Agile For Growth

CSM, CSPO, CSP, CLP M: +91 9427952435     Coaching tip: Have you prioritized your work this week? Web: www.agileforgrowth.com

--

[Dan Rawsthorne]

I think Ron hit the nail on the head, and I would like to expand on question 3... in my experience, many Agile Coaches are coaching management and the ScrumMasters. So, an Agile Coach without ScrumMasters to coach would be essentially useless unless they are helping management produce and develop ScrumMasters so they will have somebody to coach.

Dan Rawsthorne, PhD, PMP, CST
3Back.com
1-855-32-3BACK x323
Author of:
   Exploring Scrum: the Fundamentals
   Exploring Scrum: Patterns that Make Scrum Work
Download our free eBook, Scrum 101: a Pocket Guide

[Gustavo Cebrian Garcia]

Hello,

I actually share your thoughts.  

I have spoken to many colleagues and they have seen themselves in situations where the business was expecting to coach 4, 5.. 10 teams

and it was really difficult for them.

I actually saw myself in the situation where had to coach 3 junior teams and its not easy. You do need 1 good Scrum Master for a Junior teams.

Regards.

[Punita Dave]

Some thoughts

1- Can a Agile Coach/Scrum Master effectively manage 2 very junior teams.

As many mentioned, Agile Coach/Scrum Master do not manage team but coach/support them. Sharing this responsibility for 2 very junior teams is definitely not recommended. Once the team has matured in Scrum, Scrum Master can coach 1-3 teams. 

2- Can an Agile Coach manage 3 teams, 4 teams, 8 teams !!

Agile Team Coach or Scrum Master should be dedicated to one team. However, I have observed that most organizations do not have that kind of budget. So Scrum Masters do end up coaching more teams. If this happens in your organization, I would recommend no more than 3 teams

Agile Enterprise Coach has the responsibility of coaching entire organization - senior management, middle management, Agile Coaches. So from that perspective the range of responsibilities is quite broad. Agile Enterprise coach may in the beginning coach/train a few teams. But should later have Team Agile Coaches coach the teams

3- Is it really useful to have an Agile Coach not having a really good Scrum Master per team?

You are not doing Scrum if you do not have Scrum Master. Agile Team Coach may coach 1-3 teams Agile practices, if you organization is not doing Scrum. 

4- Can an Agile coach do some good work managing 10 teams on a very high level.

Nope.