Introduction
I’ll be listing coaching references here that cross all competencies for coaching…
I’m going to try and take a “less is more” approach and only list the references that I think are an absolute minimum to begin assimilating into your agile coaching journey.
My own work
I’ve been writing and sharing via blog articles since ~2009. To date in late 2020, I’ve published over 400 articles in this format across various avenues.
Agile Reflections - Agile Coaching is an e-book I pulled together that provides themes and links to coaching related articles on my blog. There are ~60 articles in the latest version. Just set the slider to $0 for a free PDF copy.
I’ve also contributed to a book entitled - Agile Coaching - Wisdom from Practitioners. You can get a free PDF copy.
Personal Coaching Time
You can also setup personal coaching time with me if you like. Do that here…
Coaching Practice Opportunities
Here’s a wonderful group, Agile Coaching Circles, where you can get the chance to practice (and be practiced upon) your coaching chops. In a safe environment.
https://www.agilecoachingcircles.com/
And they have meetings in European/Africa, North America, and Asia time zones, so very convenient!
Other Resources
I came across this blog post by Markus Gartner that I thought was excellent. He takes many ORSC principles and provides an example of personal & reflective self-coaching. He doesn’t couch it this way but rather focuses’ it on Imposter Syndrome. I thought it would be a wonderful example to share with you.
Books & Skills I’d recommend
Coaching
Coaching Agile Teams, by Lyssa Adkins
It’s funny, whenever somebody approaches me for mentoring on becoming a Scrum Alliance CTC or CEC, the first thing I ask them is whether they’ve read this book. If they haven’t, I “assign” it to them as homework and ask that they read it twice, cover to cover, before our next mentoring session. It’s THAT fundamental.
The Coaching Habit, by Michael Bungay Stanier
Wonderful advice for how to effectively coach. Great source of coaching questions and scenarios. If you’re looking for a short, truly helpful guide to coaching conversations, this would be it.
Who the F*ck am I to be a Coach?!, Megan Jo Wilson
If you’re looking for motivation and guidance for building your own coaching practice, then I can think of no better resource than this. Megan is feisty, edgy, and vulnerable in sharing her story and experience.
Consulting
Secrets of Consulting, Book 1 and Book 2, by Gerald Weinberg
Flawless Consulting, by Peter Block
Here’s I’m speaking of sharpening your “consulting” saw as an agile coach. If there were two books that I’d recommend to give you incredible advice to be effective in your consulting, it would be these book. They are that good.
Facilitation
Collaboration Explained, by Jean Tabaka
When we lost Jean, we lost someone special within the agile community. Thank goodness that she wrote and shared this book with us. It’s a wonderful treatment of facilitation within agile teams and should be a part of your learning.
Facilitators Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, by Sam Kaner
I can’t seem to recall who recommended this book to me, but I do recall how life-changing it was to my facilitative thinking. It’s in an odd format, but it contains lots of wisdom and tools for increasing your facilitative awareness and chops.
Competency Frameworks
I’ve included two sections in this guide focused on coaching roles and competency frameworks.
My GO TO framework - http://whatisagilecoaching.org/
Chris Stone has shared an agile agnostic learning journey on Miro that is a WONDERFUL resource for framing your agile coaching journey. Highly recommended!
Navigating Organizational Change
The Heart of Change, by John P Kotter
Are three books surround Kotter’s thoughts and model for change. His our probably the leading thoughts and strategies for creating and navigating organizational change. But, I will say that change is hard, so these will provide a framework to your thinking, but you have to provide the experience to craft unique change strategies for each context. In other words, the heavy lifting is on you!
Lean Change Management, by Jason Little
This book isn’t some grandiose model for change. Instead, Jason provides pragmatic, real world advice and tools to help you guide lean change in your organizational and leadership coaching. It’s a diamond for your toolbox.
Communication—StoryTelling
The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling, by Stephen Denning
While it might seem counterintuitive, I think one of the most important skills of an agile coach, or any effective change agent, is the ability to effectively communicate. And the craft of solid storytelling is the most effective way to do it. Denning’s books provides a nice background for crafting and telling your stories.
This blog article compliments this area quite well.
Organizational Culture
Leadership Agility, but Bill Joiner & Stephen Josephs
When I was researching organizational leadership - change and culture models for my Scrum Alliance CAL classes, Leadership Agility stood out as a model for capturing leadership levels aligned with agile principles. In particular—Expert, Achiever, and Catalyst. It’s a model that can be incredible useful for leadership and organizational coaching.
Note: there is a Leadership Agility instrument/survey that I’m certified to deliver. Please ask if you’re interested in more information.
The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni
When I read Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni mentioned the notion and dynamics of a leadership “first team”. It became one of the central takeaways I had from the book. In The Advantage, Lencioni expends on the notion of a leadership-centric first team and how they can focus on creating or changing their culture.
Scaling Leadership, by Robert Anderson and William Adams
Both book surround integral leadership, first at the individual leadership level and then at the organizational level. I use the Leadership Circle Profile (based on material in the books) in my Certified Agile Leadership classes and in my leadership coaching. I find the ideas in the books and the instrument to be invaluable in coaching UP to leaders / leadership, as it provides a holistic view to leadership capabilities for coaching towards learning & growth.
As an aside, both books provide a free self-assessment that can give you more insights into the tools.
Note: there is a Leadership Circle Leader, Manager, and Collective Leadership instruments/surveys that I’m certified to deliver. Please ask if you’re interested in more information.
Scaling
While Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) seems to be the defacto model for scaling, I currently prefer and leverage Scrum@Scale as the best/working model for organizational and team scaling in agile contexts. I would highly recommend becoming acquainted with it.
Assessments — Organizational to Team Maturity
Measurement? Lean Agile Intelligence? Comparative Agility?