The Agile Software Development Conference for the East of England.
Interview with Geoff Watts - Agile Cambridge pre-conference workshop leader
- Could you please tell me about your background and experience?
- How did you find out About Agile Cambridge?
- What are your main reasons for participating?
- What is the theme of your workshop?
- What areas will be covered?
The workshop will focus on four main areas:
- What is coaching and why is it important?
- What skills do you need to be a good coach?
- Where does coaching fit into the organisation and the team?
- Coaching Practice
- Why should delegates attend the workshop and what will they learn?
I was an internal management coach and project manager at BT before getting involved in Scrum back in 2002. I was one of the first Certified ScrumMasters in the UK before becoming the UK’s first CST and CSC. I formed my own company in 2005 and since then I have been helping organisations, teams and individuals change to a more Agile way of working. I am currently shifting my focus away from the agile-specific coaching side of things – I’m going back towards my roots of business performance coaching.
I have been aware of Agile Cambridge as an event for a couple of years but my schedule has never allowed me to attend. I was chatting to Roman Pichler over dinner a few months ago and he reminded me of the event. I managed to re-schedule some of my workload so that I could make it this year. I am excited about finally being able to attend and to be given the opportunity to run a workshop on Agile Coaching.
Having been involved in organisational Agile transformations for the best part of a decade now, I have noticed that one of the most, if not THE most, important aspects of the transformation is the establishment of a coaching culture within an organisation. Without this culture shift, the transformation seems inevitably doomed to fail.
I am currently taking every opportunity to talk to people about this and Agile Cambridge is the perfect opportunity to network with those involved in this area.
The aim of my workshop is to share the rationale for a coaching culture, what coaching actually is and some tips on how to develop some of the essential skills for being a coach. There will also be a significant amount of time for the participants to practice coaching in a safe environment. At other workshops people have found an additional bonus in establishing a network of link-minded coaches who they can draw on when facing challenges back at their organisations. Almost like a “buddy system”.
I hope this workshop will be fun, practical and a little inspiring. Past participants have said of how the workshop has clarified a lot of the principles of Agile, helped them join the dots of what they are seeing, and how they are expected to deal with the changes of moving to a more agile organisation. They have also spoken of the valuable new skills they have started to uncover and develop.
People who are managing teams, people who are playing roles of ScrumMaster or product owners will begin to expand their knowledge of how to improve their relationships with Agile teams. People who are interested in leading teams will also enjoy learning about and practicing the coaching techniques that we will begin to explore.
I firmly believe that establishing a coaching culture in our organisations is one of the pre-requisites for a successful agile transformation and is one of the factors that separate those that are "doing Agile" and those that are "being agile". I believe this workshop is the first step down the road of establishing a coaching culture within an organisation.
BOOKING
Sign-up for Geoff's Agile Coaching workshop.
CONTACT THE ORGANISERS
Agile Cambridge is organised by Software Acumen, based in Cambridge, England. We specialize in practical events for the software community.
Please email to contact us directly. We welcome your questions and comments.
CONFERENCE HOTLINE
You may also call +44 (0)1223 900107 if you have questions or comments about the event.