Review By: John Snuggs
02/02/2011"Coaching Agile Teams" is a guide for agile team leaders. In many ways, it acts as a mentor and, borrowing a part of the subtitle, a companion.

The author has a style focused on the people who make up an agile team. She presents an approach that leverages increased individual contributions to create team and business results. There are references to specific agile techniques in the book; however, these techniques are presented within a framework of how you can employ coaching to develop people. If you are looking for a handbook on XP, Scrum, or DSDM, you will need to look elsewhere. The author includes references to help you find more information and maintains a focus on how a coach behaves. The book is most appropriate for people experienced with a development methodology who want to enhance their ability to influence individuals, teams, and organizations to adopt those techniques.

My favorite part of the book is in a series of chapters with titles that begin with "The Coach as ..." I found the "Coach as Facilitator" and "Coach as Coach-Mentor" to be particularly insightful. I found the information to be a good re-grounding of my understanding with a fresh perspective. It reminded me of the importance of developing the product owner to be able to be individually successful and, consequently, enabling the team to be collectively successful.

Finally, the author includes a roadmap for continuing to develop well beyond simple skill mastery, covering such important topics as when I will be able to consider myself "complete" as an agile coach. Her answer (and mine) are not surprisingly unspecific.

I really enjoyed this book and will continue to reread it as a fuel to drive my personal and professional development.