What does an Agile Consultant do?
An Agile Consultant comes into picture when either there is a problem or obstacle on the Agile journey or at the very beginning of transformation to guide the company through the unknown. They start with assessing the current level of Agile adoption and then devise further steps to be taken. Depending on the particular issues, the consultant may assume various roles: from an educational mission of introducing Agile knowledge to an organization, helping choose the right project management software tools to setting up the process and utilizing Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, etc.) that are the best fit for particular needs of the client, and finally facilitating a more fundamental shift like transformation of entire corporate culture and people mindset.
Agile Coaching vs. Agile Consultancy
Agile Coaching
Is about assisting people in a co-creative process, when they have experienced some degree of success but need to climb out of stagnancy. Agile coaches choose a more casual and informal way of cooperation, engage in effective listening, support, and help in personal development. The focus of coaching is often for a longer time period than consulting.
Agile Consulting
Is always about offering expertise through observation and analysis and then providing recommendations. The primary focus is to understand an issue quickly and offer reasonable solutions. Some see consulting as a shorter-term specialty, where the consultant’s wisdom and insight can make a deep imprint at a given time; whereas, coaching is viewed as a more personal and on-going process.
Agile Consulting Types
Agile Business Consulting
When implemented throughout the organization from the top down, Agile positively transforms the way a business works, shifting the focus to delivering results and catering to the users’ needs. It puts client satisfaction as top priority and therefore gives the business a strong competitive advantage on the market.
Agile Software Consulting
Applied to software development, the Agile approach can help deliver results faster and more consistently, keep right on track with the latest industry trends, and create software that is best for the client.
Levels of Agile Coaching
Leadership Coaching
A company can only go as far as the leadership’s vision. That’s why, if you want the Agile principles to penetrate your company, it may be beneficial to have the change go from the top down. Leadership coaching introduces the top level of business to the concepts of the approach and oversees them through implementing it further down the company hierarchy. We strive to create an Agile leadership that lives and leads by example.
Team Coaching
Establishing the core values and principles on the team level makes up the foundation for the successful Agile transformation of the entire company. In some cases, team coaching may be applied pointwise to test if the principles are viable for this particular organization, market or project specifics, team composition, etc. Thus, team coaching places the focus on the smallest organizational structure within the company – an Agile team.
Check other agile transformation services
Agile Assesment
If Agile Transformation is the process of moving to a flat organization of small autonomous teams, open, adaptable, and engaged in continuous improvement, then Agile Assessment is the ignition to that process.
Agile Training
If Agile Assessment ignites the process of Agile Transformation, Agile Certification and Training are usually the first stop on the Agile Transformation Journey.