In an organization, an Agile Coach is someone who leads several teams and helps solve problems they face. They are trusted with the responsibility of scaling agile practices across departments. To achieve this, the Agile Coach must be aware of which practice is exactly suitable for the business at hand. Implementing the “industry-best” practice that is ill-fitting to the situation could hamper the agile transformation. But how do you get there? It sounds tedious to understand ALL Agile frameworks, right? This is where the Disciplined Agile Coach Certification comes to your rescue!
In this blog, we will look into the possible ways in which the Disciplined Agile Coach Certification could benefit you in 2024. Let’s begin with why Disciplined Agile and not any other framework for Agile Coaches.
What is Disciplined Agile?
Disciplined Agile is a novel and refreshing way of inculcating agility in your organization. It helps you deliver value sooner by helping you choose the right practices for your context. These sets of practices are combined to form the Disciplined Agile Toolkit. It contains methods from Flow, Lean, Theory of Constraints, organizational development, and many more. Therefore, this Disciplined Agile toolkit gives you the freedom to choose your Way of Working (WoW).
PMI Disciplined Agile follows the Shu-Ha-Ri concept. It is a Japanese martial arts term that means a journey from beginner to mastery. PMI® offers you this journey in the form of certifications to attain Agile mastery. The DA journey starts with a Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM) and ends with a Disciplined Agile Coach (DAC) certification. As you progress further into these courses, you solidify your knowledge of the DA toolkit.
Now, how can DA benefit you as an Agile Coach? To understand this, let us first look at the competencies expected out of an Agile Coach. Then we will fill you in on how DA covers it all!
The Core Competencies of an Agile Coach
An Agile coach takes several stances to facilitate coordination between the team and derive the best outcomes. These “stances” correspond to competencies or qualities they should possess. The Agile Coach role goes beyond “coaching”. As per the Agile Coaching Competency Framework, there are 8 segments to be an effective Agile Coach. This framework was introduced by Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd for the Agile Coaching Institute (ACI). We have shown the diagram below.
The part that covers most of the diagram is “Lean-Agile Practitioner”. This section stresses the importance of proficiency in Lean and Agile Methods. Moreover, the Agile Coach should adopt the Agile Mindset, apply Agile practices, and “live” Agile principles.
But, to be a coach, just Agile knowledge isn’t enough. They should be able to convey this knowledge with their Facilitation and Teaching skills. The Agile Coach should inspire the team while guiding them to solve problems. Also, you are expected to “Coach” teams in Agile (as the name suggests). You must also mentor them to choose the right practices to improve their Way of Working.
The bottom half of the diagram talks about Technical, Business, and Transformation expertise. One should achieve mastery in these 3 areas to become an effective coach. The Technical aspect points to software knowledge. Whereas, Business expertise means driving innovation and product development in a way to boost business value. Lastly, Transformation mastery emphasizes organizational development and your role as a catalyst for it.
A Good Coach vs A Great Coach
Realistically speaking, a coach cannot be 100% effective in all areas mentioned in the Agile Coach Competency Framework. For example, there may be some coaches who have achieved technical mastery but lack a business mindset. In this situation, they should gain experience in Business skills to help derive value out of their initiatives. However, a good coach is aware of where they lack the skills and works on it. On the other hand, a great coach will strive to achieve mastery in that area.
Learn How To Become An Agile Coach – A blog by our expert Mr. Ashish Sadekar.
Disciplined Agile Coach Certification: Your Guide To Master All Competencies
Disciplined Agile Coach certification is the ultimate milestone in the Disciplined Agile (DA) journey. It brings to you the superpower of the Disciplined Toolkit fused with Agile Coaching skills!
The Disciplined Agile Toolkit does not prescribe a few best practices. It is not limited to just Agile or Scrum either. On the contrary, it consists of traditional practices as well as lean project management techniques. So, it checks out the main section of the competency framework (and goes beyond it too). Coming to the 4 similar sections, the Disciplined Agile Coach certification gives you the skills to lead teams effectively. Disciplined Agile Coaches do not tell people what to do, but empower people to make their own decisions. They do so by helping them identify their problems and find effective solutions. Therefore, the DAC certification instills the best coaching and mentoring competencies in you.
Most senior scrum masters and agile coaches already fulfill technical and business mastery with their experience and education. But, what about Transformation Mastery? It is perhaps the most difficult to achieve. Also, it is a fundamental role of an agile coach to scale agile practices across departments and achieve enterprise agility. For this, the Agile Coach should be aware of which practice is exactly suitable. Implementing the “industry-best” practice that is ill-fitting to the situation could hamper the agile transformation. Disciplined Agile Coach certification teaches you how to apply the best-suiting practices from the Disciplined Agile toolkit. So, by getting DAC-certified you gain the necessary ammunition to help your organization achieve true agility!
What Do You Learn in the Disciplined Agile Coach Certification Course?
The Disciplined Agile Coach Certification teaches you how to bring about agile transformation. It shows you how to align teams with the strategies and goals of the organization. For teams with different priorities and preferred WoWs, DAC teaches you to tailor a suitable WoW for their context. You learn to foster culture change within and across teams. The DAC course helps you gain command over the Disciplined Agile toolkit and develop the Agile mindset. It teaches you guided continuous improvement practices and effective coaching styles. Thus, you develop the expertise to guide teams toward higher levels of performance and agility.
A key area of focus of the DAC certification is identifying challenges. You learn to visualize and address impediments and overcome barriers to decision-making. For said challenges, you also learn to determine improvement opportunities. The DAC course emphasizes the importance of adaptability and resilience in the face of challenges. Furthermore, you learn to create coaching playbooks full of tested strategies to tackle these impediments. Thus, the Disciplined Agile Coach Certification equips you with the knowledge, skills, and strategies to lead successful agile transformations.
The Disciplined Agile Coach certification enables you to work with the organization’s core transformation team as well as the governance/PMO team. It also equips you with the tools and techniques to drive sustainable transformation. Thus, Disciplined Agile Coach certification makes you a catalyst for change.
Benefits of Disciplined Agile Coach Certification
Reasons why as an Agile Coach, you should be interested in leveling up to a Disciplined Agile Coach:
- Extend your knowledge base: Disciplined Agile goes beyond a single approach. You learn to apply hundreds of practices. Hence, you are better capable of guiding your teams and solving their problems. If you are already certified in DASSM, then you can use the Disciplined Agile Toolkit much more effectively to solve problems with the DAC.
- Become method-agnostic: Disciplined Agile does not prescribe a few best practices, as we mentioned before. The toolkit is not just limited to agile and consists of traditional practices as well as lean project management techniques. So, you become truly agnostic. And as a bonus, you also gain the skills to solve the most complex problems!
- Work across the enterprise, not just IT: DA applies to all departments of an organization, and not just software development. You can coach for finance, enterprise architecture, value streams, security, and many more sections. You are responsible for guiding team-level as well as organization-level transformations.
- Distinguish yourself from other Agile Coaches: Most coaches are limited to Scrum or SAFe for agile scaling. You gain an edge over them with your solid foundational knowledge of the DA toolkit, and a certification to back you up. Thus, you take a step forward to become an Enterprise Coach. (Also, you will be among the select few across the globe to achieve an elite certification by a reputed organization like PMI.)
Therefore, the DAC Certification makes you a Super Coach than just a coach. It provides you with a superpower in the form of a Disciplined Agile toolkit to scale agile across your organization in the best way possible.
Disciplined Agile Coach Certification – Is it an Ideal Choice in 2024?
The world is increasingly moving towards Agile. Almost every company either already uses Agile practices or is moving towards its adoption to survive in this industry. There has been a prevalence of several agile certifications in the market. Disciplined Agile certifications have been in the market for a decade now; however, with PMI’s acquisition, it has found more audience. There have been some big names adopting Disciplined Agile with its new avatar. Top financial organizations such as Barclays and Franklin Templeton have been using Disciplined Agile. Recently IBM, TCS, HCL, and the like have endorsed Disciplined Agile. Also, many organizations are curious about exploring the toolkit. With so many firms adopting it, there is a growing indication that Disciplined Agile is proving effective for organizations.
With the increased adoption, almost every company would require coaches to lead transformations. Hence, the demand is rapidly shifting from a Scrum Master to an Agile Coach who can inculcate Agility in the organization. Thus, pursuing the Disciplined Agile Coach Certification is truly an ideal Choice in 2024!
Learn the Difference Between an Agile Coach and a Scrum Master.
About Disciplined Agile Coach (DAC) Workshop by ProThoughts
Our Disciplined Agile Coach certification workshop completely runs on practicals and activities. There is very little theory and the participants are given case studies to learn new techniques and strategies to become an effective DAC or Disciplined Agile Coach. The ProThoughts DAC workshop is a game-based, interactive training session with lots of engaging activities. With our 2-day Disciplined Agile Coach (DAC) Weekend workshop, you will gain the skills you need to bring enterprise agility to your workplace as well as ace the DAC Certification exam set by PMI.
ProThoughts is currently the only one in all of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to offer the DAC and DAVSC certifications. Ashish Sadekar, the trainer for the DAC batches, is one of the top 10 professionals to get DAC-certified. Moreover, he is one of the first certified instructors for Disciplined Agile Coach certification. With him leading your classes, you can rest assured that you will clear your DAC exam right away and achieve the prestigious Disciplined Agile Coach certification.
Conclusion
The Disciplined Agile Coach Certification offers a comprehensive approach to agile coaching. This certification equips individuals with a diverse set of skills and knowledge derived from the Disciplined Agile Toolkit. By addressing the core competencies expected of agile coaches, DAC certification enables professionals to effectively lead agile transformations. Moreover, with the increasing adoption of Disciplined Agile by major organizations, there is a growing demand for certified coaches capable of driving enterprise agility. In conclusion, the Disciplined Agile Coach Certification emerges as an ideal choice in 2024 for agile professionals who seek to advance their careers and make a lasting impact in their field.
To learn more about DAC certification, you can schedule an appointment with our experts here!
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