• Agile Coach

How do you develop from Scrum Master to Agile Coach?

Suppose you took a two-day Scrum Master training course a few years ago, have since started up several teams and have coached them in ‘Scrumming’. You enjoy doing that, but let’s face it: the umpteenth circle around the church feels a little too familiar. A little too much of the same. You need challenge and even more impact. What is the next step in your career? This blog will give you more insight into the learning line from Scrum Master to Agile Coach. Quick readers check out this handy overview right away or give me a call for customized advice.

The difference between Scrum Master and Agile Coach

Scrum Master versus Agile Coach, there is no official definition that (sub)separates the two. Therefore, Scrum Academy uses the following premise.

A Scrum Master focuses on the adoption of Scrum in an organization. Of course from an Agile Mindset, but mainly focused on 1 or more teams and the proper facilitation of the workflow and events.

An Agile Coach focuses on the organization as a holistic system and coaching the organization (or a part of it) as a whole to an Agile organization with an Agile way of working. That way of working does not have to be just Scrum. It can be all kinds of frameworks. What matters is that the organization learns to work as a new system, with new patterns that also lead to new behavior. Based on Agile principles.

Do you feel the need to delve deeper into this distinction? For many people, this blog offers much more clarification.

From Scrum Master to Agile Coach

Time for the next step. I regularly get calls from people who want to develop into an Agile Coach. From their role as Scrum Master, but also often without experience as a Scrum Master or without experience with an Agile framework such as Scrum.

Despite the fact that an Agile Coach does not have (or need to have) a role in a team, we do think it is important that an Agile Coach-to-be has experienced himself how to facilitate Agile teams, as a Scrum Master. You need that experience to properly explain to other parts of the organization, such as management, how Agile teams work and how the organization can best facilitate these teams.

I can hear you saying: you don’t have to have been a Scrum Master for that, you can do that without having been part of a team, right? Maybe you’re right, I think it would be interesting to spar with you about that. What I can tell you now is that we at Scrum Academy consider it a huge advantage if you have experienced how a team works and not just heard about it. If you can tell it from your real and personal experience, then it really comes across as sincere, reliable and credible. Then you can truly inspire and “fire up” teams. Coaching and giving advice purely from theory books, people easily poke around that.

Overview for your development steps

Do you want to discover what is the right training to grow from Scrum Master to Agile Coach? Or what the requirements are to grow from ‘newbee’ to Scrum Master? Discover the overview for your development steps here.

Your customized learning line

Enthusiastic about the overview, but still unsure which course will give your next step the most valuable fulfillment? How to give your career the biggest boost? Appropriate for your organization, team(s) or clients. Give me a call and together we will take the practical step towards your customized learning line.