Planning for the Unpredictable - Agile Coaching Planning Frameworks

1. Horia Balog
Balog Consulting Ltd.
PLANNING FOR THE UNPREDICTABLE
– AGILE COACHING PLANNING FRAMEWORKS
Toronto Agile Conference
Nov. 17, 2017

2. COACHING ENGAGEMENT CONSTRAINTS
• Specific requirements, e.g.:
• Deliver project
• Increase velocity
• “Make us AGILE
please”
• Time-bound
• Reset expectations
• Benchmark current state
• Define realistic target state
• Clarify coaching stance

3. PLANNING A COACHING ENGAGEMENT?
WHY BOTHER?!?!?
Relate back to the Coaching Stance:
• Maintain neutrality
• Serve the coachee(s) agenda
• Reduce coachee(s) dependence
• Don’t collude
• Always act in their long
term interest

4. PLANNING FRAMEWORKS
• Balancing the need to act in the moment with
the need to keep the larger context in mind
• Clear, Explicit, Consistent Scope & Objectives of
Coaching Engagement
• Current state of the coachee(s) and the
organizational context
• Drive towards a Vision of High Performance
HYPOTHESIS:
Specific planning frameworks are not only
desirable but arguably required for
professional level, consistent, structured
coaching.

5. PLANNING FRAMEWORK 1 - THE COACHING CARD
Origin - Agile42 -
http://www.agile42.com/en/coaching/coaching-structure/
APPROACH- assembled and maintained throughout the
coaching engagement cycle by the coach independently
and in private.

6. COACHING CARD EXAMPLE
• Can be low-tech – on
a board or paper
• Or high-tech, online
• Depending on coach’s
preference &
environment/context –
sometimes the
workspace does not
allow for a private area
to post and manage a
private item like this!

7. ANOTHER COACHING CARD EXAMPLE
• Of course the level of
detail is relative, and is
something the coach
will experiment with to
get to an optimal level
depending on style,
context, personality,
etc.

8. LATEST VERSION IN USE
• Currently there is no space to keep physical cards private –
so switching to online
• Everyone’s got some favorite tools – e.g. trello

9. COACHING CARD STRUCTURE
• DESCRIPTION or CONTEXT - details about the context
and the organization in which the coaching engagement is
to take place.
• HYPOTHESIS - defined very early in the coaching cycle
by the Coach and used as the central pivot for the entire
exercise.
• GOAL – specific & explicit target of the coaching
engagement
• LEADING & LAGGING INDICATORS –
to track progress
• COACHING TOOLS – coach’s “toolkit”
• NOTES, COMMENTS & UPDATES

10. 1. Initial interview –
description/context
2. Define hypothesis
3. Identify associated
leading & lagging
indicators
4. Assemble coaching tools
5. Tracking during coaching
cycle:
1. Tools used
2. Details collected
3. Progress tracked
through indicators
6. If leading indicators fail to
trigger the coach could
change/update details on
the card
7. If all tools are used, the
coach could replenish the
tools section
8. When coaching is
wrapped up – for various
reasons – DEBRIEF
9. Outcome – new coaching
cycle or engagement is
completely wrapped up!
COACHING CARD “USER MANUAL“

11. COACHING CARD - CONCLUSION
• Quite effective and valuable in the hands of a coach with
adequate experience & the drive to stay focused & stick
with the discipline required to follow this structure
throughout the coaching cycle.

12. PLANNING FRAMEWORK 2
- THE PERSONAL CHANGE CANVAS
Origin – Jeff Anderson, AgileByDesign
- https://leanpub.com/leanchangemethod
APPROACH- thorough & extensive visual planning
mechanism for the coaching engagement in the shape of a
LEAN change/transformation.

13. PERSONAL CHANGE CANVAS EXAMPLE
• Can be low-tech (on a board or paper) or high-tech, online
• Central implicit concept – MINIMUM VIABLE CHANGE

14. 1. CONTEXT – coachee(s) roles & responsibilities, size of
org, skillset, products & services
2. OBJECTIVES/ URGENCY – goals of the coachee(s),
product backlog(s), “why agile?”
3. OBSTACLES – barriers, constraints, problems
4. DEPTH OF CHANGE – “how far do we go?”, “where to
focus?”, minimize disruption vs. accelerate change!
5. CHANGE LEADERS – who is involved in this
engagement?
6. PLAN & COMMITMENTS – setup plan for change,
commitments, expectations for support, cadence of
reviews/checkpoints
NOTE: the structure has evolved and been refined from the initial
stages to better suite various scenarios of use!
PERSONAL CHANGE CANVAS STRUCTURE

15. 1. Initial interview – to
document context
2. Series of working
sessions to assemble the
initial state canvas
3. Initiate the action items &
controlled experiments
4. The canvas can be used
standalone or in
combination with an
action/experiment Kanban
board
5. Setup regular cadences
to review, update, capture
details/progress,
measurements!
6. If the actions &
experiments are not
successful overall the
coach could
change/update details on
the card
7. Wrap-up - DEBRIEF -
summarize engagement
with coachee(s) & identify
next steps.
PERSONAL CHANGE CANVAS “USER MANUAL“

16. PERSONAL CHANGE CANVAS - CONCLUSION
• More sophisticated framework
• Requires more effort to plan and track
• Allows for higher accuracy execution of coaching.

17. PLANNING FRAMEWORK 3 – THE IMPACT MAP
Origin – UNKNOWN, …well, not 100% sure!
- references - https://www.impactmapping.org/
- the book - https://www.impactmapping.org/book.html
APPROACH
– specialization of
mind map to visualize
ways to coach with
highest impact possible.

18. IMPACT MAP EXAMPLE
• Can be low-tech (on a board or paper) or high-tech, online
• Central implicit concept – MINIMUM VIABLE CHANGE

19. 1. GOAL– objective of the coachee(s), “why do this?”,
“what’s in it for me?”
2. ACTORS– who’s part of this engagements, who
can/needs to help?
3. IMPACT ITEMS – what behaviors need to change?,
how can actors help achieve the goal?
4. DELIVERABLES – actions, activities, work items to
focus on to create/achieve corresponding impact items.
NOTE: some coaches have tailored the use or meaning of some of
these levels or even entirely changed/replaced/skipped them! Feel
free to be creative in the use of it!
IMPACT MAP STRUCTURE

20. 1. Initial interview – to
document context and
identify goal
2. Series of working sessions
to assemble the initial state
impact map
3. Initiate the action items &
controlled experiments
4. The impact map can be
used standalone or in
combination with an
action/experiment Kanban
board
5. Setup regular cadences
to review, update, capture
details/progress,
measurements!
6. If the actions &
experiments are not
successful overall,
change/update details on
the card
7. Wrap-up - DEBRIEF -
summarize engagement
with coachee(s) & identify
next steps.
IMPACT MAPPING “USER MANUAL“

21. IMPACT MAP - CONCLUSION
• Average complexity of use
• Highly customizable
• Requires more experience with Impact Mapping
processes.

22. SIDE BY SIDE
• These are 3 frameworks brought forward based on
experience
• For specific scenarios some would be more adequate than
others
• Some scenarios might require OTHER ways to work
• So PLEASE bring forward any other ideas!

23. THANK YOU!