Foreword by Jim Highsmith

First and foremost, this is a great book! I get a chance to read many agile books, book proposals, and manuscripts, and too many are more of the same—a few good ideas here and there, but no solid contribution to the field. Lyssa Adkins’ book is not more of the same.

I look for four things in agile books: Does the book contribute new ideas? Does the book organize existing ideas in new ways? Does the book extend existing ideas? Is the writing good? For example, Kent Beck’s groundbreaking Extreme Programming Explained combined new ideas and organized existing ideas in new ways. Some people say there is nothing new in agile, but Kent’s combination of specific practices and values was new. When I first received Mike Cohn’s Agile Estimating and Planning, my response was, “How can there be a whole book on this topic? Wasn’t it covered adequately in the Beck and Fowler’s Planning Extreme Programming?” I realized quickly that Mike’s book extended existing ideas in exciting new ways, plus added new ones.

Coaching Agile Teams builds an effective framework that organizes existing ideas and practices. Further, it extends existing ideas in thought-stimulating ways. Finally, the book is well written and compelling to read, and the ideas are practical and accompanied by experiential examples.

One of Lyssa’s ideas that resonates with me is defining coaching by multiple roles: teacher, mentor, problem solver, conflict navigator, performance coach. This differentiation among roles brings depth to a coach’s job. For example, mentors teach stuff—agile practices—whereas performance coaches encourage individuals and teams to learn about themselves. Lyssa’s experience as a life coach brings this rich dimension to her coaching work and this book. Many agile “coaches” are mentors who teach agile practices. This book can help them become effective performance improvement coaches.

There are three audiences for this book: agile coaches, agile leaders, and individuals.

First, for everyone who considers themselves to be an agile coach, trainer, mentor, or facilitator, this book has a wealth of ideas, practices, and tidbits that can help them improve. For example, here’s one thought-provoking quote from Lyssa, “A ScrumMaster who takes teams beyond getting agile practices up and running into their deliberate and joyful pursuit of high performance is an agile coach.” In Chapter 10, “Coach as Collaboration Conductor,” Lyssa explores cooperation and collaboration, a valuable differentiation for team performance improvement. Each of these ideas adds depth to the role of an agile coach.

The second audience for this book is anyone in a leadership position in an agile organization—manager, product owner, ScrumMaster, coach, project manager, or iteration manager. Although coaching is an agile coach’s full-time job, it is a part-time job for all leaders. There is a lot written about self-organizing teams, but not as much on how to actually become a self-organizing team or how to help such a team emerge. Leaders influence the workplace environment, and Lyssa’s book can help them facilitate the maturing of self-organizing teams, in large part, by being more agile themselves.

Finally, anyone who aspires to be an effective agile team member will benefit from reading this book. I am a fan of Christopher Avery, author of Teamwork Is an Individual Skill: Getting Your Work Done When Sharing Responsibility, who writes “To improve teamwork, I need to improve me” and “I am responsible for all the relationships within my project community.” This means that improving team performance is not just the responsibility of the leader or coach but the responsibility of every team member. Lyssa’s book can help individuals become agile self-coaches—improving their teams by improving themselves. Chapter 3, “Master Yourself,” is as valid for individual team members as it is for agile coaches.

As you can see, I am an enthusiastic champion of this book. It goes on the bookshelf as one of my top ten agile books. Coaching Agile Teams focuses on what some would call soft skills, which we realize are usually harder to learn and apply than the so-called hard skills. For individuals, leaders, and coaches, there is a gold mine of ideas, practices, checklists, and thought gems in this book.

—Jim Highsmith

Director Agile Practice,

Cutter Consortium

Flagstaff, Arizona