In many respects, AI is revolutionising many aspects of our lives and careers, and indeed the agile community that I have been part of for over 20 years seems both dazzled and fearful in equal measure about how AI will “support” the agile teams and organisation of the future. Many claim that AI will undo much of the investment that individuals and organisations have made into the roles of software engineer, Scrum Master, Product Owner and Agile Coach. This has contributed to a growing theory (largely fuelled by social media) that “agile is dead” and businesses are ready to move on with AI being the focus instead of agility.
I don’t doubt that AI has incredible advantages and has already made huge leaps forward in terms of cancer diagnosis and detection which would be unseen by the human eye, and analysing advanced weather patterns to help predict hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. But can AI lead an agile transformation? Can AI truly coach a growth mindset? Can AI replace human-to-human interactions and spot the emotional connections that need to be nurtured within a self-organising, and high-performing team?
No it can’t. Well, not yet at least! I don’t believe we are about to be replaced by machines who can detect the nuances in human behaviour. I also doubt that we as humans are ready and willing to put that level of trust into artificial emotional intelligence and change agency.
In my mind, the agile coaching I offer often involves navigating complex team dynamics, addressing interpersonal conflicts, and supporting team members through periods of stress and uncertainty. A true agile coach offers empathy and compassion. They understand the emotional impact of change and can offer empathetic support and encouragement during periods of transition. AI, while capable of processing information, cannot truly empathise or offer genuine emotional support.
An agile coach will also have to deal with resistance to change, fear of failure, and lack of trust which are common challenges in agile transformations. A true agile coach can often identify underlying issues like these and work with the team to address them. AI may struggle to recognise and address these complex emotional and psychological factors.
Human behaviour is inherently complex. Even the greatest supercomputer would struggle to decipher “why” we behave in a certain way. But what is constant is that we need connection with others for our own wellbeing. I see two fundamental differentiators in why human coaching and good facilitation is still essential to successful organisation growth and navigating complex environments:
20 years on from where I started as an agile coach and in the midst of this so-called agile “identity crisis” I do think my own purpose and value in this industry is morphing. The awareness and knowledge of agile values, principles and methods across multiple industries is much more widespread and agile ways of working are more common in the workplace. Yet I still talk to even the most seasoned agile practitioners who need to collaborate around strategy and solutions. Whilst I still offer agile training courses, training is not my primary focus anymore. I find myself today much more interested and prepared to immerse myself in a specific organisation and getting to grips with their culture and the issues they face. I can offer myself as a reflective organisational “lens” to work closely with people and teams to uncover new experiments and good practices going forward. I can be a coach for an employee or a mentor to ScrumMasters. I have a wealth of experience in designing and leading change within organisations and a natural desire for systems-level thinking. Whilst I have a lot to offer organisations as a strategic-thinker, at the end of the day, humans still need humans. I can be a pair of ears to listen to, or a pair of eyes to observe. I can be a supporter and an ally, or I can be a neutral facilitator or a harsh critic. I have instinct and I can build rapport. These are things that make me me and what I believe gives me purpose and joy. I’m open to new opportunities this year that might bring me this type of joy and bring your company this kind of benefit.
I went on record recently to say that I thought offline and remote working was diluting our agility. The COVID pandemic created a remote-working culture in many organisations which is now very hard to reverse or subvert. The agile manifesto spoke about “individuals and interactions” over “processes and tools”. Both remote working and AI carry the risk of pushing organisations more towards the right hand side of this balance, whereby the default meeting or interaction method is through a collaboration tool and our conservations can be summarised using an AI program.
The path I am choosing to follow this year is one based on genuine human connection and interaction. I have made a personal promise to myself to connect or reconnect with my clients in a face-to-face manner as opposed to working via Zoom wherever I can. I would much rather travel to you to sit down at a table for an hour and share a coffee together! And I would much rather teach and/or coach people in the same room for 2 days rather than running the online alternative. The richness and warmth of human interaction is what brought me into the agile world and I truly believe that is the most important benefit that I am here to promote and live by.
If any of my more local connections (old or new) would like to meet in-person for chat and an REAL coffee – I would be happy to buy you one!!
Agilify offers training, consultancy and coaching for individuals, teams and organisations to help understand and embrace an agile approach to product delivery.
