Vishal started unfolding the story, “Do you remember the story of a Blue Jackal from Panchatantra? A jackal (Chandaraka) entered a village and was chased by dogs. While trying to escape from the dogs, he fell into the jar full of blue color used for bleaching clothes. He decided to take advantage of his new blue color and announced himself as special creation of God and as the new king Kakudruma. It went one fine for a while, but one day when he heard other jackals howling, he also joined them and was recognized by other animals”.
“So Anjali, I recognized that Vishal’s entire experience has been just as a Scrum Master, but he ‘presented’ himself as an Agile Coach during the hiring process. Since he answered all the theoretical questions about Agile/Scrum/SAFe correctly, we considered him as a coach and presented him in front of the customer”, said Vishal. He continued, “Going forward, we will differentiate properly between a Scrum Master and an Agile Coach. The Scrum Master would support the team, protect team from outside interferences and guide the team’s use of Scrum. (S)he would be focused on scrum ceremonies for specific teams and would ensure that the potentially shippable items are delivered as expected. Whereas an Agile Coach would be focused on building right organizational capabilities, skills and mindset. A coach might work with scrum teams for set up right practices, but his/her focus is always to ensure that the organization internalizes agile principles & values. The mission, scope and duration of engagement would be different for both the roles”. Vishal & Anjali decided to differentiate clearly between a Scrum Master and an Agile Coach going forward and they lived happily ever after.
Friends, did you observe any such scenario in your environment? Did you see any mismatch between representation vs. reality? Do you remember any Blue Agile Coach or ARE YOU THE ONE?
The original Article posted here by Rahul Sudame
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