Agile Otter Blog

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: We deliver Delivering software keeps getting easier We are always learning 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.

This is not a manifesto. It looks a lot like a rather famous manifesto (the middle of it anyway) but it is not a manifesto. This is just a set of principles that I've successfully applied in numerous personal and professional settings, always with good effect. Pull  is a better flow than Push Continuous is more competent than Batch Agreements are more negotiable than Orders Brains per Task  is more efficient than Tasks per Person Improvement is a better goal than Compliance Fail Now is cheaper than Fail Later Simplicity works better than Discipline Safety is best May they serve you as well as they have served me so far. Peace.

I did not manage to use my Christmas break to get a lot of work done on the book . I tried, but there was much going on in our world (almost all good stuff) and I was unable to get the focused time I was hoping for. You might be able to access a sample of the draft as of today. It is only a small bit of the book, but maybe enough to whet your appetite. I hope to decide on the "early adopters" price soon, and finish up the initial set of illustrations (thereby getting rid of the ugly ascii art that appears in some places, and breaking up the expanse of text that appears in others). If you want, use the public page to suggest a price. Thanks for waiting. I hope you'll find the result thought-provoking and useful.