Why It's a Great Idea to Employ an Agile Coach as a Scrum Master next time you are looking for that new recruit to your team

Give yourself to space to experiment with your hirings. Sometimes you get on your desk an 'agile-poly' person - someone who is great at all agile roles - why not use them?

‘Agile-poly’? It’s like a polymath who can do great things in several fields, not just one. And in fact, the cross-field experience enhances what they can do in each field.

An agile poly’ is someone who is just as comfortable and just as good working at all levels in an organisation - fine as a scrum master at the team level, but also comfortable in the middle layer management and board level. In fact - they are not just as comfortable; they find it just as interesting.

Interesting because it’s always about People and Problems.

Want a list of really good reasons?

- Facilitating Agile Adoption: A coach in the Scrum Master role can help a team to adopt and implement Agile methodologies more effectively. They can offer guidance and support to team members who are new to Agile and help them to understand and apply Agile principles and practices.

- Providing Objective Feedback: As an external resource, a coach in the Scrum Master role can provide objective feedback on the team's Agile development process. They can observe the team's dynamics, identify areas for improvement, and provide constructive feedback to help the team improve their performance.

- Identifying and Addressing Challenges: A coach in the Scrum Master role can help the team to identify and address challenges that may be hindering their Agile development process. They can provide guidance on how to overcome these challenges and help the team to develop strategies for addressing them in the future.

- Fostering Continuous Improvement: A coach in the Scrum Master role can help the team foster a culture of continuous improvement. By encouraging regular retrospectives and providing guidance on how to use the insights gained to improve their processes, the coach can help the team to improve their performance continually.

- Promoting Collaboration: A coach in the Scrum Master role can help to promote collaboration and teamwork within the team. They can encourage open communication, facilitate effective meetings, and help to build trust and respect among team members.

- Able to step up and do more and talk to leaders.

- You can be sure of real expertise. One of the great sayings is that if you teach something, you get better at it yourself. So you will be getting a real expert, not someone just qualified for the Scrum Master certification course.

Using a coach as a Scrum Master means you will get a lot more than just the ceremonies and admin. I have found that, typically, you get a real thinker.

Is it possible that some Scrum Masters can do all of the above? Of course, it is - it's just that you'll be taking more of a risk than you need to.