What good is a senior agile coach to me? 

In connection with the transition to an agile way of functioning in companies, new roles have appeared, to which we are gradually getting used to. Roles such as Scrum Master or Product Owner are already quite established. It’s no secret that we can find their description in the Scrum Guide.

But what good is a Senior Agile Coach to me? There is no description for this role in official agile terminology. And so it is no wonder that many managers in companies that are just starting with agile quite rightly think about whether to invest money in a senior or not. Shouldn’t I get another developer for that money? Won’t a cheaper medior handle the same job instead of a senior?

Under the role of Senior Agile Coach, I imagine a very senior Scrum Master, who also knows other agile frameworks. He can choose the right ones in the context of the company and has experience in agile transformations. They are able to communicate objectively and constructively with the company’s management and have experience with agility in both IT and business. With the size of the company and the complexity of assembling teams correctly, the need to use the services of seniors usually grows. Personally, I am convinced that these seniors have their place in companies and underestimating their contribution can sometimes lead to fatal mistakes when trying to introduce an agile way of functioning. It is also true that every attempt to return to agility after failure can be an order of magnitude harder, because people’s trust that it works may have been eroded. In the mindmap that you can find in today’s article, I tried to describe several reasons to use the services of senior agile coaches. You will also find what to watch out for when looking for seniors.

You can also download mindmap in PDF format here.