Assignment 3: Communicate and Facilitate as an Agile Coach

Assignment 3: Communicate and Facilitate as an Agile Coach
Due Week 7 and worth 90 points

The following resources may be helpful when completing this assignment.

• Agile coaching competence (http://www.agilecoachinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Agile-Coaching-Competencies-whitepaper-part-one.pdf)
• The role of the agile coach (http://www.agilejournal.com/articles/columns/column-articles/1917-the-role-of-the-agile-coach)
• Coaching Is the Key for Scrum Success (http://www.scrumalliance.org/resources/1879)
• Seven Agile Coach Failure Modes (http://www.agilejournal.com/articles/columns/articles/858-seven-agile-coach-failure-modes)

Imagine you are the lead application developer for a commercial Website development project at a midsized organization. You have a tight timeline and your product owner just changed her job and left the company. The new product owner just joined the team. The business decided to speed up the process of this project by hiring a local consulting firm to provide one (1) local resource and two (2) remote resources as developers for this project.

Write a five to six (5-6) page paper in which you:

1. Evaluate the importance of being an agile coach on the project team. 
2. Analyze the key roles the agile coach plays in team communication and facilitation activities.
3. Suggest at least three (3) strategies that the agile coach needs to follow to avoid communication breakdown. 
4. Recommend at least five (5) best practices in communication as an agile coach. Support your response with real-world examples based on your own working or researched knowledge. 
5. Compare at least three (3) different facilitation techniques among agile coaches and provide examples of each to justify how the techniques help solve problems and improve management.
6. Use at least four (4) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources. You may use the resources above or others of your choosing.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length. 

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Describe the role of agile coaches and required leadership attributes. 
• Explain how agile teams and coaches master agile project management.
• Describe effective communication strategies among agile coaches. 
• Compare and contrast facilitation techniques among agile coaches.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in advanced agile project management topics. 
• Write clearly and concisely about advanced agile project management topics using proper writing mechanics and technical style conventions. 

Click here to view the grading rubric for this assignment.