Working Well Enough: the Four Questions

The question asked was "how do we know we need a coach?" The more general question is "how do we know if we need help?"

The question seems to assume that the goal of coaching and training are rescue; that the team is in trouble or incapable of success. That's horsefeathers.

I think that the more valid question is "are we working as well as we can?"

Here are my criteria for teams that don't need anything:

1. We deliver
2. Delivering software keeps getting easier
3. We are always learning
4. We have fun

If all four of those are true for a team, then that team probably doesn't need help. Of course if those are true, then the team is poised to provide a lot of help to other teams by describing how they work.