Agile Coaching Ethics Initiative

Agile Coaching Ethics Initiative

Something that has become a burning issue for us and one that we think belongs under the auspices of the Agile Alliance is the lack of consistency in the discipline of Agile coaching and the lack of any ethical framework or code of conduct for that profession.

In informal polls of the community, there is evidence that there is general support for the idea of an ethical framework and a code of conduct for Agile coaching. However, none of the commercial bodies are seen as the right organizations to credibly lead such an initiative.

To this end, a group of volunteers has been working to produce a Code of Ethical Conduct for Agile Coaching (Code) and supporting Ethics Scenarios that are aimed to help readers identify the types of dilemmas they may face and give them examples of appropriate and inappropriate ethical behavior in different contexts.

View the Code of Ethical Conduct for Agile Coaching

View the Agile Coaching Ethics Scenarios

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Take the Agile Coaching Ethics Quiz

The Agile Coaching Ethics Quiz is a tool for validating your basic knowledge of the Code of Ethical Conduct for Agile Coaching. Taking the Agile Coaching Ethics Quiz will allow you to create a baseline of your current knowledge of The Code and key considerations for practicing Agile coaching ethically. It is free of charge and does not include any certification.

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Give your feedback on the Code

This is currently a work in progress and we welcome your feedback. Does the Code resonate? What are we missing? What is unclear? Are there any points that should not be included? Please send any feedback to us so that it can be considered in a future draft.

When considering the topics to be included in the Code, we came up with the following guidelines:

• To be an ethical consideration a topic needs to be something that someone can do as soon as they sign up for the code. As a new Agile coach, I can read the statement and apply this immediately in practicing my profession
• To be an ethical consideration, it must be something where there is broad agreement that it risks causing harm to myself, the profession, or others if I do not abide by the statement
• These points must apply to people who are internal Agile coaches, external Agile coaches, and those practicing Agile coaching as part of another role (for example a manager in an organization who is expected to also be an Agile coach, likewise someone in the role of Scrum Master is often taking on some or all aspects of Agile coaching)

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Guidelines for current and future topics

Possible future activities for this initiative include:

• Create a register for Agile Coaches to commit to holding themselves accountable for abiding by the Code of Conduct
• Encourage Agile Coaches to sign onto it, and recommend that people looking for coaches should check the register for their Coach (social pressure to sign on to the Code of Conduct)

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Thank you to everyone who makes this possible!

The volunteers who have contributed to this initiative: