Agile Coaches or Program Managers? The Blurred Lines in Modern Organizations
After several conversations sparked by my recent post on Scrum Masters and project administration, I found myself diving deeper into the evolving role of the agile coach. What started as a discussion about Scrum Masters quickly expanded to include how organizations are using—and sometimes misusing- agile coaches.
The True Role of an Agile Coach
The definition of an agile coach is fairly well established. In fact, CIO Magazine’s Sarah White outlines the core responsibilities of the role:
- Coaching agile teams in the methodology
- Integrating related methodologies within the company
- Developing standards and requirements for the agile process
- Providing training to employees on agile principles and practices
- Helping teams navigate agile tools and software
- Encouraging employee and stakeholder buy-in
This list is straightforward and aligns with what most agile practitioners and leaders would expect. An agile coach is intended to be a guide, mentor, and catalyst for positive change—helping teams and organizations adopt agility in both mindset and practice.
When Agile Coaches Become Program Managers
But in real-world conversations, I keep hearing about agile coaches who are doing something very different. Instead of focusing on coaching teams and nurturing agile principles, they’re slipping into traditional program management habits:
- Spending more time updating redundant reports than teaching teams how to share information more efficiently
- Enforcing hard deadlines and treating release dates as immovable
- Obsessing over budgets to the point of moving or removing resources mid-development
- Making resource decisions without consulting the team
- Dictating what gets developed, rather than letting the team prioritize based on value
- Demanding constant updates, yet unwilling to seek out information themselves—often because of a lack of trust in the team
When agile coaches act in this manner, it’s not truly agile at all. It’s just old-school project management with a new title.
Are We Just Rebranding Project Management?
This trend raises a challenging question: Are organizations simply rebranding traditional project management roles to maintain appearances? When a Scrum Master is treated as a project manager and an agile coach as a program manager, you’re not fostering agility—you’re just maintaining the status quo under a different name.
These issues become even more pronounced when companies focus solely on implementing a framework, rather than embracing the behavioural and cultural changes that true agility requires. They adopt the language and titles of agile, but the underlying mindset remains unchanged.
Change Is Hard—But Faking It Is Worse
Fundamental transformation is tough. It requires letting go of old habits and comfort zones. However, simply disguising traditional roles under new titles does nothing for the organization—except perhaps making a few people feel like they’ve accomplished something, while everything else remains the same.
If your organization is serious about agility, it’s time to look beyond titles and frameworks. Focus on real behaviour change, team empowerment, and continuous improvement—not just keeping up appearances.
Want to ensure your agile journey is more than just a name change?
Let’s talk about how to build genuine agility—rooted in trust, collaboration, and authentic coaching. Reach out at jberriault@berriaultandassociates.com.