EXIN Agile Coach Assessment cheat sheet

Agnostic Agile treats Agile as a set of principles and values that can be adapted to context, not a fixed brand-name framework; no single method (Scrum, Kanban, XP, SAFe) is treated as the default answer.

The four Agile Manifesto value pairs are: individuals and interactions over processes and tools; working software over comprehensive documentation; customer collaboration over contract negotiation; responding to change over following a plan. The right-hand items retain value.

The twelve Manifesto principles include early and continuous delivery, welcoming changing requirements, delivering working software frequently, and self-organizing teams; these are principles, not process rules.

Agnostic coaching separates 'what the method says' from 'what the situation needs': the coach selects or blends practices based on the problem, the system, and the people, and can justify the choice.

A method is a means, not an end. Evidence of agility is observable behaviour (short feedback loops, working product, adaptive planning), not ceremony attendance or tool usage.

Context factors that legitimately change the approach: regulatory constraints, fixed-deadline contracts, team size and distribution, product maturity, safety-critical domains, and organizational funding models.

Agnostic does not mean relativist: the coach still holds non-negotiable principles such as transparency, frequent inspection, empiricism, and respect for people, and challenges practices that violate them.

Distinguish 'Agile in name' from 'Agile in behaviour': velocity theatre, cargo-cult standups, and Agile certifications without changed decision rights are anti-patterns to name explicitly.

When comparing frameworks, use criteria: scope of feedback loop, role clarity, planning cadence, quality practices embedded, and scaling assumptions; recommend by fit, not by popularity.

Scrum: three accountabilities (Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers), five events, three artifacts plus commitments (Product Goal, Sprint Goal, Definition of Done); sprints are timeboxed to one month or less.

Kanban: visualize workflow, limit work in progress, manage flow, make policies explicit, implement feedback loops, improve collaboratively; measure lead time and cycle time, not story points.

Little's Law: average lead time = average WIP / throughput. Reducing WIP or raising throughput shortens lead time; use it to justify WIP limits.

Flow metrics: cycle time (start to finish), lead time (request to delivery), throughput (items per period), WIP (items in progress), and flow efficiency (active time divided by total elapsed time).

XP practices: test-driven development, pair programming, continuous integration, small releases, refactoring, collective code ownership, and a sustainable pace; these are engineering-level, not management-level, practices.

Estimation options: story points measure relative size and uncertainty; #NoEstimates and flow-based forecasting use historical cycle-time distributions instead; both can coexist if the team states its forecasting basis.

Prioritization techniques: MoSCoW, weighted shortest job first (cost of delay divided by duration), Kano model, and value-versus-effort matrices; each optimizes a different objective.

Definition of Done is a quality gate and must be shared; if it is not met, the increment is not done and cannot be counted in velocity or released.

Retrospective formats (Start-Stop-Continue, 4Ls, sailboat, starfish) are interchangeable; what matters is that the team produces a small number of owned, testable improvement actions.

Change curve: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, reinforcement (ADKAR). Coaching interventions differ per stage; training addresses knowledge, not desire.

Kotter's eight steps: urgency, coalition, vision, communicate, empower action, short-term wins, consolidate, anchor in culture. Skipping urgency is the most common failure.

Satir change curve: late status quo, foreign element, chaos, transforming idea, practice and integration, new status quo; performance dips during chaos and this is normal, not failure.

Resistance is information: identify whether it is lack of clarity, lack of capability, lack of incentive, or genuine disagreement, and respond to the actual cause.

Sponsor model: a change needs an accountable sponsor with authority over resources; a coach without sponsor backing can facilitate but cannot mandate.

Diffusion of innovation: innovators and early adopters first, then early majority via proof and social proof; targeting the late majority with the same message rarely works.

Metrics for change: lead time, deployment frequency, defect escape rate, and employee engagement; avoid using velocity as a performance measure because it invites gaming.

Structural levers outrank persuasion: funding models, performance reviews, and approval gates either enable or block new behaviour; align them or expect reversion.

GROW model: Goal, Reality, Options, Will. The coach asks, the coachee decides; the coach does not supply the answer first.

Coaching versus mentoring versus teaching versus facilitating: coaching draws out the coachee's own solutions, mentoring shares experience, teaching transfers knowledge, facilitating structures group process.

Powerful questions are open, short, and free of embedded advice; 'what have you tried?' beats 'have you considered Kanban?'.

Levels of listening: internal, focused, global, and generative; the coach listens for what is not said as well as the words used.

Feedback: use observation-impact-request (SBI variant) to keep feedback behavioural and specific; avoid labels and intent attribution.

Psychological safety (Edmondson) predicts team learning behaviour; the coach models fallibility and rewards candour to raise it.

Conflict modes (Thomas-Kilmann): competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, accommodating; choose by importance of the issue and relationship.

Team development (Tuckman): forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning; storming is a predictable phase, not a sign that coaching failed.

Contracting: agree on goal, scope, confidentiality, session cadence, and how success is measured before the first coaching session.

The Manifesto's four value pairs each keep the right-hand item in view; 'over' means preference, not rejection.

Agnostic Agile is a stance about choosing practices by context; it is not a certification body and makes no claim of official affiliation with any framework owner.

Fit criteria for choosing a method: feedback-loop length, role and decision clarity, quality practices, planning cadence, and scaling assumptions.

Agile is judged by observable behaviour and outcomes, not by ceremony count or tool adoption.

Legitimate context constraints include regulation, fixed-price contracts, safety-criticality, and team distribution; these shape practice selection.

Non-negotiable principles under Agnostic Agile: transparency, empiricism, respect for people, and short feedback loops.

Cargo-cult indicators: standups with no decisions, velocity used as a target, and retrospectives with no owned actions.

Scrum artifacts and commitments: Product Backlog (Product Goal), Sprint Backlog (Sprint Goal), Increment (Definition of Done).

Little's Law: lead time = WIP / throughput; use it to reason about WIP limits and queue size.

Cycle time is start-to-finish; lead time is request-to-delivery; flow efficiency = active time / total elapsed time.

Kanban core practices: visualize, limit WIP, manage flow, make policies explicit, build feedback loops, improve collaboratively.

XP engineering practices: TDD, pair programming, continuous integration, refactoring, small releases, collective ownership, sustainable pace.

WSJF = cost of delay / job duration; higher WSJF is prioritized first.

If the Definition of Done is not met, the increment is not done and is excluded from velocity and release.

Estimation basis must be stated: relative points, flow-based cycle-time forecasting, or both with a clear rationale.

ADKAR stages: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, reinforcement; training addresses knowledge only.

Kotter's first step is establishing urgency; a coalition with authority follows before vision work.

Satir curve: performance drops in chaos after the foreign element; recovery follows a transforming idea and practice.

Diagnose resistance by cause: clarity, capability, incentive, or genuine disagreement; respond to the cause, not the symptom.

A change needs an accountable sponsor with resource authority; a coach facilitates but cannot mandate.

Diffusion order: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards; use proof and social proof for the majority.

Structural levers (funding, reviews, approval gates) override persuasion; misalignment predicts reversion.

Use lead time, deployment frequency, and defect escape rate as change metrics; do not use velocity as a performance target.

GROW sequence: Goal, Reality, Options, Will; the coachee chooses the action, the coach asks.

Distinguish coaching (draw out), mentoring (share experience), teaching (transfer knowledge), and facilitating (structure group process).

Powerful questions are open, brief, and advice-free; embedded suggestions reduce ownership.

Feedback structure: observation, impact, request; keep it behavioural and specific.

Psychological safety (Edmondson) enables learning behaviour; the coach models fallibility to raise it.

Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, accommodating; select by issue importance and relationship value.

Tuckman stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning; storming is expected, not failure.

Contract before coaching: goal, scope, confidentiality, cadence, and success measures.

Agnostic Agile selects practices by context while holding Agile principles fixed; method choice is instrumental, not identity.

The twelve Manifesto principles include frequent delivery, welcoming change, and self-organizing teams; they are principles, not procedures.

Compare frameworks on feedback-loop length, role clarity, quality practices, planning cadence, and scaling assumptions.

Agility is evidenced by behaviour and outcomes such as short feedback loops and working product, not ceremony attendance.

Context constraints that justify adaptation: regulation, fixed-deadline contracts, safety-criticality, team size, distribution, funding model.

Non-negotiable under Agnostic Agile: transparency, empiricism, respect for people, short feedback loops.

Name anti-patterns explicitly: velocity theatre, decision-free standups, retrospectives without owned actions.

Scrum: three accountabilities, five events, three artifacts with commitments (Product Goal, Sprint Goal, Definition of Done); sprint length one month or less.

Kanban: visualize, limit WIP, manage flow, make policies explicit, implement feedback loops, improve collaboratively.

Little's Law: average lead time = average WIP / throughput; lower WIP or higher throughput shortens lead time.

Flow metrics: cycle time, lead time, throughput, WIP, flow efficiency (active time divided by elapsed time).

XP practices are engineering-level: TDD, pairing, continuous integration, refactoring, small releases, collective ownership, sustainable pace.

WSJF = cost of delay / duration; prioritize the highest WSJF first.

Definition of Done is a shared quality gate; unmet DoD means the increment is not done and is excluded from velocity.

State the forecasting basis: relative story points, historical cycle-time distribution, or both with rationale.

ADKAR: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, reinforcement; each stage needs a different intervention.

Kotter's sequence begins with urgency and a coalition with authority; vision and communication follow.

Satir curve: foreign element, chaos, transforming idea, integration, new status quo; the performance dip in chaos is expected.

Resistance causes: lack of clarity, lack of capability, misaligned incentives, or genuine disagreement; diagnose before responding.

Sponsor model: change requires an accountable sponsor with resource authority; coaches facilitate, sponsors mandate.

Diffusion of innovation: early adopters provide proof; the early majority responds to social proof, not to the same message as innovators.

Structural levers (funding, performance reviews, approval gates) determine whether new behaviour persists.

Change metrics: lead time, deployment frequency, defect escape rate, engagement; never use velocity as a performance target.

GROW: Goal, Reality, Options, Will; the coach asks and the coachee decides the action.

Four helping modes: coaching draws out, mentoring shares experience, teaching transfers knowledge, facilitating structures group process.

Powerful questions: open, short, advice-free; embedded suggestions reduce coachee ownership.

Feedback: observation, impact, request; behavioural and specific, without intent attribution.

Psychological safety (Edmondson) predicts team learning; the coach models fallibility and rewards candour.

Thomas-Kilmann modes: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, accommodating; choose by issue importance and relationship value.

Tuckman: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning; storming is a predictable phase.

Contracting covers goal, scope, confidentiality, cadence, and success measures before the first session.