The Agile Coach Role: Coaching for Agile Performance Impact

It is increasingly common to introduce agile coaches to help gain speed and advantage in agile companies. Following the success of Spotify, the role of the agile coach has branched out in terms of tasks and responsibilities, but little research has been conducted to examine how this role is practiced. This paper examines the role of the agile coach through 19 semi-structured interviews with agile coaches from ten different companies. We describe the role in terms of the tasks the coach has in agile projects, valuable traits, skills, tools, and the enablers of agile coaching. Our findings indicate that agile coaches perform at the team and organizational levels. They affect effort, strategies, knowledge, and skills of the agile teams. The most essential traits of an agile coach are being emphatic, people-oriented, able to listen, diplomatic, and persistent. We suggest empirically based advice for agile coaching, for example companies giving their agile coaches the authority to implement the required organizational changes within and outside the teams.publishedVersio

The Agile Coach Role: Coaching for Agile Performance Impact

It is increasingly common to introduce agile coaches to help gain speed and advantage in agile companies. Following the success of Spotify, the role of the agile coach has branched out in terms of tasks and responsibilities, but little research has been conducted to examine how this role is practiced. This paper examines the role of the agile coach through 19 semi-structured interviews with agile coaches from ten different companies. We describe the role in terms of the tasks the coach has in agile projects, valuable traits, skills, tools, and the enablers of agile coaching. Our findings indicate that agile coaches perform at the team and organizational levels. They affect effort, strategies, knowledge, and skills of the agile teams. The most essential traits of an agile coach are being emphatic, people-oriented, able to listen, diplomatic, and persistent. We suggest empirically based advice for agile coaching, for example companies giving their agile coaches the authority to implement the required organizational changes within and outside the teams

Asking why: building a culture for growth at outsystems

The growth of a solid, knowledge-intensive firm, OutSystems—an IT company recognized in 2003 by Fortune magazine as one of the most promising start-ups in the world—is accompanied by efforts to create a strong culture that preserves the traits that have driven OutSystems’ success and that drives innovation, adaptability, high performance, and accountability. The lessons OutSystems learned from previous international experiences are presented along with its latest growth model of branded local partners. The case study is intended to introduce concepts related to organizational culture, traits of cultures that drive innovation, national versus organizational culture, and the challenges of globalization. It is designed to be used in Organizational Behavior classes and is appropriate for MBA- and Master’s-level courses in the area of management. It is suggested as a guideline for 60- to 90-minute classes. Participants are invited to discuss the importance of organizational cultures and their fit with the company strategy. Participants are also encouraged to brainstorm about the best approach to face OutSystems’ new stage of growth, specifically the advantages and consequences of growing as a metanational company. Finally, in the conclusion, the most relevant findings taken from the discussions proposed are revisited: The importance of an organizational culture adapted to the market needs and the potential of innovation behind metanational companies. Other considerations are made about: how the case illustrates the importance of leadership, group age, and group size in the process of building a culture; and how OutSystems’ culture solves the apparent contradiction behind adaptable culture

Using a coach to improve team performance when the team uses a Kanban process methodology

Teams are increasing their use of the Kanban process methodology across a range of information system projects, including software development and data science projects. While the use of Kanban is growing, little has been done to explore how to improve team performance for teams that use Kanban. One possibility is to introduce a Kanban Coach (KC). This work reports on exploring the use of a Kanban Coach, with respect to both how the coach could interact with the team as well as how the use of a coach impacts team results. Specifically, this paper reports on an experiment where teams either had, or did not have, a Kanban Coach. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data collected during the experiment found that introducing KC led to significant improvement of team performance. Coordination Theory and Shared Mental Models were then employed to provide an explanation as to why a KC leads to better project results. While this experiment was done within a data science project context, the results are likely applicable across a range of information system projects

Using a coach to improve team performance when the team uses a Kanban process methodology

Teams are increasing their use of the Kanban process methodology across a range of information system projects, including software development and data science projects. While the use of Kanban is growing, little has been done to explore how to improve team performance for teams that use Kanban. One possibility is to introduce a Kanban Coach (KC). This work reports on exploring the use of a Kanban Coach, with respect to both how the coach could interact with the team as well as how the use of a coach impacts team results. Specifically, this paper reports on an experiment where teams either had, or did not have, a Kanban Coach. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data collected during the experiment found that introducing KC led to significant improvement of team performance. Coordination Theory and Shared Mental Models were then employed to provide an explanation as to why a KC leads to better project results. While this experiment was done within a data science project context, the results are likely applicable across a range of information system projects

Could it Be Sunny in Philadelphia?

The Philadelphia Media Network--the serious broadsheet Inquirer, scrappy tabloid Daily News and digital hub Philly. com--has been the poster child for newspaper ownership turmoil over the past decade. A half-dozen separate owners have shepherded a half-dozen separate strategies, all while the business for major metro papers, including those in Philadelphia, was facing dramatic digital disruption and revenue declines. Enter Gerry Lenfest, a local cable network owner- turned-major philanthropist, who found himself as the sole owner looking for a better path forward. In January, the 85-year-old Lenfest announced a complex nonprofit/for-profit hybrid structure he believes will give PMN a fighting chance, both at survival after he's gone and at helping to solve the news industry's shared challenges. Lenfest donated PMN to a newly created Institute for Journalism in New Media, which is housed under the Philadelphia Foundation, and gave $20 million as seed money to help get the institute off the ground. The goal is to grow the endowment (to the tune of$100 million) to fund a potentially wide array of initiatives, including research and development of digital delivery models and specific public-interest journalism projects at PMN and beyond. The institute and PMN are managed by separate boards with separate missions and marching orders. While PMN is complex and still in an early stage, potential lessons can be learned about its component parts that could be applicable for other newspaper owners, publishers and funders

Knowledge Era: Knowledge Management in Multinational Company – Role of KM in Project Management Scenario

Human society passed various stages like hunting and gathering society, peasant society, Industrial society and post- industrial society. Post – industrial society is recognized as ‘Knowledge Society’. Knowledge is more valuable product than any other goods in knowledge society. Today information is in the finger tips with the advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Information gathering, storage and dissemination are the basic features of knowledge society. Due to the crucial role of knowledge 21st century is recognized as ‘Knowledge Era’. Information gathering, storage and dissemination to the right people are the central poles of Knowledge Era. Knowledge management is widening its area and it is one of the key task in multinational companies. Project Management has been growing as a discipline for decades. From basic task of planning to modern complexity management, it has evolved with the society. Today, project management is integrated in many companies and governmental organisms with strategy, via the portfolio or program management, and with the other departments, like manufacturing, human resources, legal and financial. It is a question of managing multiple products, multiple projects with interrelated resources from one or many companies, under the multiple constraints of the customers, the legal environment and the financial and market objectives. This paper presents the results of study into Knowledge Management (KM) performed at one of the multinational company called Perot Systems Consulting and Application Solutions (CAS) India (Bangalore and Noida). Keywords: Knowledge Era, Knowledge Management, Project Management, Knowledge Creatio