The paper we are discussing, Geof’s paper, is here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/human-centric-agility-coaching-geof-ellingham/?trackingId=
You can find Geof’s other work at these places: https://www.geofellingham.com/ and https://www.humancentricagility.org/
1. The expert paradox
Clients hire agile coaches in large part because of their expertise in agile, yet coaching orthodoxy suggests that domain expertise is of low value. The result of this paradox is that agile coaches experience discomfort and resist employing their expertise.
How do we reconcile this tension? How can I both tell you “this is the way” and support you in finding your own way?
This was the subject of Geaf’s first article in this series, Our clients don’t need experts – but they do need expertise.
2. The ideology paradox
Agile adoption requires a radical change in organisational culture, which is accelerated, supported and sustained by positioning agile as an ideology. However, the new agile ideology is resistant to challenge in the same way as the pre-agile ideology, undermining the ability of the individuals, organisations and the wider agile community to continue to change and adapt. The result of this paradox is that the central value statement of the Agile Manifesto to “respond to change” is in the long run inhibited, reintroducing the fragility that agile was intended to counter.
Interested in Agile at your big company but struggling to resolve headaches?
- Is trying to do the usual Scrum or Kanban templates causing a lot of problems when more than one team is involved?
- Are you having trouble getting your management to align around what you see as obvious solutions?
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Scrum Master Kartar takes a job to improve a logistics company’s adaptability. But efforts to scale Agile practices are being blocked by Mr. Cherneski, a vice president who’s organized the company into siloed pigeon holes in order to secretly make millions with a dark web shipping service. Kartar’s life is in danger. He goes underground. A spy agency hunts Kartar….
The following concepts are covered in this dramatic story: scaling Scrum with LeSS, systems thinking, organizational design, systems modeling, and how to develop a transformation plan that your organization can actually do.
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