Shweta PaiScrum master| ResMedHalifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Would appreciate if anyone can share their experience with me. thanks! Saving Changes...
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Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
What are your thoughts so far? Would be great to learn your perspective or perception thus far on your journey.
I do not have direct experience with this, however, finding an organization to bring someone on part-time would be tough. A few considerations:
Realistically, you would be limited to a timezone that is conducive to your normal working hours
Any contractual reasons with current organization that would restrict moonlighting?
Maybe go the route of becoming a certified trainer which typically happens on weekends Saving Changes...
It is pretty difficult to do "part-time" coaching (assuming that is what you were referring to) with clients who are starting or relatively new to an agile transformation - the "seagull" model doesn't work well.
On the other hand, if you have a more mature client who you have already coached to that level of maturity, you could do part-time check-ins to provide guidance in their journey to greater agility.
I tried to do the part-time agile coaching thing last year while focusing on my teaching work and it became pretty clear by year end that I wasn't really able to help my (coaching) client to the extent they wanted given my limited capacity.
A different approach might be to offer to provide mentoring at cost to some junior Scrum Masters. Such a gig would likely fit better with your availability, but it might be challenging to sell it...
Kiron Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Sweta,
I have done a 18 months 2 days a week engagement building a PMO. Key was that I coached an inexperienced PMO leader (who had several years big projects though). Did most work onsite and some remotely (like writing concepts, presentations, assessments), together with 2 parttime staff. In Germany working parttime and from home is popular.
After having setup basic PMO processes (SAP and Scrum), standard documents, reporting, training staff in PM, implementing portfolio mgmt I was focusing on health checks of individual projects.
But I agree, it is hard to find such a gig. What helped was my high price tag so it was easier for them to argue a 2-day budget.
At this client I have also seen Scrum coaches (not scrummasters) working for 2-3 teams in parallel, so these were also parttime for each team. You need to be flexible in timing and responsive remotely to build trust. If you work - say - Monday / Tuesday they will soon miss you Fridays. 2 days a week was the budget, not the schedule. Saving Changes...
Shweta PaiScrum master| ResMedHalifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Thank you all for your responses! Where I was going with this was that I could help small firms get started with this. Train their scrum masters. Give them personalized advice based on their situation. They can take it from there. I don't know if there is a market for this. Planning to do a market research for the same.
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1 reply by Kiron Bondale
Mar 05, 2020 8:34 AM
Kiron Bondale
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Shweta -
Unfortunately, when a company is starting on their agile journey, it is very hard to help them on a part-time basis, especially if they have no experienced agilists on board already.
You may be able to help with a single project team but even then, in those early days they will need a lot of guidance and coaching which can't be done sporadically.
Thank you all for your responses! Where I was going with this was that I could help small firms get started with this. Train their scrum masters. Give them personalized advice based on their situation. They can take it from there. I don't know if there is a market for this. Planning to do a market research for the same.
Shweta -
Unfortunately, when a company is starting on their agile journey, it is very hard to help them on a part-time basis, especially if they have no experienced agilists on board already.
You may be able to help with a single project team but even then, in those early days they will need a lot of guidance and coaching which can't be done sporadically.
