Reviews for Agile Coaching

1. Informative and invaluable

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2010

   So what is "Agile Coaching"?
   
   Chances are, you've heard this phrase being knocked around at work or from reading blogs. In the software development community, it's refreshing to find a well written and informative book that cuts through the jargon and buzz words.
   
   The book provides real practical advice on how to apply techniques and methods that aid both day to day development and long term project outlooks.
   
   The authors' experience shines through in this essential addition to the bookshelf.

2. Advice from the code-face

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, October 12th, 2009

   For me the book is a book of two halves. As you would expect half of it is about coaching Agile teams. In that you'll find that it covers similar ground to my own Changing Software Development: Learning to Become Agile - both are about introducing change. While I cover more management and background they cover more personal stuff.
   
   The other half of the book is a nice, modern, discussion of how Agile teams work. Its not Scrum, Kanban, XP or any other method. It describes what you find. Its one of the best introductions to current Agile practices you'll find. Plus, it incorporates a lot of experience which earlier books couldn't.
   
   One of the things I liked about this book is the "corner cases." This book covers those bits of the Agile development process which sometimes get skipped over. For example: the advice to keep your white boards mobile, something I always do but until now nobody has ever put it in a book.
   
   There are lots of other great tips from two people who are in the trenches coding and helping people develop better software and systems.
   
   

3. Not just a book for coaches

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, October 12th, 2009

   This book is the result of many years spent coaching teams to be agile, and the cumulative experience really shows.
   
   There's a great emphasis on the pragmatic application of agile practices, and plenty of real-world examples and stories.
   
   But it's is not just a book for coaches - anyone who works in an agile team will find lots here to help with understanding the process more deeply.
   
   If you're just starting out with agile, it's a great way to learn what it might feel like to be in a well-functioning agile team.
   
   And for those who have been doing it for years, there are fresh ways to look at the process, and some inspirational advice for when times are rough.

4. A much needed book about a very important practice

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, October 12th, 2009

   Coaching. How hard can it be? To the uninitiated a great coach hardly seems to do a thing: a small comment here, a gentle prod there. The result, the subjects magically improve.
   
   Of course the truth is that there's no such thing as magic, and that coaching is a skill (maybe an art) that takes years to perfect. As others have said here, Agile has internalised the vital role that coaches can play, and as it grows in popularity there are going to be more and more people trying to coach, without knowing where to start.
   
   This book is perfect for them. It's packed full of tips, snippets, pauses for thoughts, techniques, and most importantly stories. It can get a nascent coach started on the right road.
   
   Vitally, it talks not just about practical application, but more importantly about the frame of mind a coach needs to have. Given a bad coach is perhaps more damaging than a good coach is helpful, helping them focus on the way they act is a fundamentally important part of the book's message.
   
   Finally, more experienced coaches will get plenty from this book, too (I know I did); Whether in the form of revisiting known techniques, discovering new ones, or apropos reminders of the aforementioned mindset.
   
   I don't know of any other book aimed at Agile coaching. Great stuff, and much needed.

5. Agile Coaching an Agile Coach

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, September 12th, 2009

   I have seen Agile coaching in action! While the value of coaching a software team in any form of best practice cannot be underestimated, it can also be extremly destructive if the coaches don't have any experience of writing software at the sharp end, merely a collection of letters after their names that give them a false sense of confidence that knowledge gained in the circles of academia can be unswervingly applied to the real world.
   
   Here is where the difference comes in. From reading Rachel and Liz's book it was pretty clear that they don't see their work as a textbook that can be applied to any software dilemma but more as a series of guidlines and techniques that can be used to improve teamwork, communication and job fulfillment. After reading this book I quickly came to the conclusion that I needed someone with proven agile coaching experience to help me set up my software team. I use the Agile Coaching book as my point of reference, while I am in the lucky situation of being able to build my team around what I have learnt in the book, I wish I had this kind of help when I was working with large legacy teams from non agile backgrounds.