Why do we need Agile coaches at all?

Today I was asked a really interesting question by a client: “Agile is very simple, why do you need Agile coaches?”.
That is a pretty fundamental question to ask of any Agile coach and after my initial shock we did come up with some good answers.
But the question (and the initial answers) kept nagging at me all day. And while I sat down with a glass of good whisky in the evening I got back to the question. Here is what I came up with:

• Agile is simple, not easy
• Experience bootstraps learning
• Organizational gravity

Agile is simple, not easy
Any agile methodology is usually very light on rules and have-to-dos. That makes it simple, but not easy.
Behind and because of those simple rules there are still very complicated issues.
“Features must be broken down into chunks that can be implemented in x days” is very simple, but very hard to do if you have no experience. (and sometimes even if you do have experience.)
“At the end of every sprint you need to have a retrospective”. Again very simple. But actually creating a team and environment that can really learn and improve their own process is hard.
So yes Agile is simple, but hard
Experience bootstraps learning
One of the most important things about Agile methodologies is that they make it possible and encourage learning teams.
Having someone with experience however allows a team to accelerate learning in the beginning. Someone who has been in a similar situation before can pick lessons learned and share those with the team so some wheels do not need to be reinvented. As long as the team only uses those ideas as a starting point for their own learning it can accelerate the initial learning.
Organization gravity
Lyssa Adkins has a brilliant quote in the book “Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition”.

“Gravity Works”. Yes it does. Rock climbers know this and plan for it. So do Agile coaches.

Agile transitions are not limited to the teams doing the actual development. They are part of much bigger picture. Other departments need to at least be aware of the transition and probably have to change considerably.
For example walk into the operation department of a big company that is doing waterfall projects and tell them that you are going to release every project every month. They’ll laugh at you.
Most managers actually really like the fake certainty of waterfall projects..
Agile does not solve any problems by itself, it just makes them painfully clear. Not all organizations are mature enough to realize that and will usually blame Agile for all those problems that are suddenly surfacing.
Those are only some examples where organizational gravity will play up. They will constantly pull your Agile transition towards the old status quo.
An experienced Agile coach will recognize those signals and work with the clients to keep an Agile transition on track towards the goals that were set.
Just like a regular coach.