Managed Adoption

Our Managed Adoption program is one of the most innovative coaching offerings in the industry. This program makes lean and agile development practices stick while eliminating the waste and expense of large-batch consulting engagements.

The Problem With Scrum Coaching

The common approach to coaching a development team means that a consultant will be on-site with their client for four or five days of each week. This is quite disruptive and very expensive. Nobody needs forty hours of coaching per week, or even eight hours of coaching in a single day. But when consultants have committed themselves to your engagement for a week, you've got them for the whole week whether you need them or not. The vendor is forcing the client to buy services in a large batch because selling that way is convenient for the vendor.

What would work better? Ideally you could hire a coach for any amount of time you need—down to just a few minutes, if that's all that's necessary. Organizations adopting agile development have a range of needs. Sometimes they need group facilitation, but often they just need a little one-on-one consultation on a narrow topic.

Managed Adoption: Coaching++

Gemba's Managed Adoption program (MAp) addresses the real needs of teams adopting Scrum/Agile development. The MAp provides coaching in a more effective and less intrusive manner than traditional coaching methods. MAp also provides just-in-time training and facilitation of critical group events. As team members move from task to task, their Gemba coach helps them see how to apply the skills of their new discipline. The coach also facilitates group activities and works with stakeholders to keep the entire team in touch with change and progress.

Effective skills develop because of the individual attention of the one-on-one coaching. Practices and desired behavior stick because of the anchors created by the program. In addition, a MAp engagement is substantially less expensive than placing full-time coaches throughout your organization, since it doesn't require the bulk purchase of services and constant travel expenses.

Effective Agile Adoption

We work on the things that others won't—to get the results that others don't.

• We foster skills that help people take ownership in their shared goals. We help participants develop the courage, tact, and resolve to confront obstacles within themselves and within others. We help participants become aware of their behavior and how that behavior helps or hinders them.
• We carry learning and change beyond the project team to gain cooperation from critical parts of the organization.
• We create the anchors that make practices stick. As a result, your people take ownership of the outcome, and Agile development remains in practice long after Gemba Systems has disengaged.