EXIN Agile Coach Assessment key terms

An approach that treats Agile as a set of principles and values rather than a single branded framework, so coaches select and blend practices based on context instead of loyalty to one method.

The four stated preferences - individuals and interactions, working software, customer collaboration, responding to change - that anchor all Agile practice; the items on the right are still valued, just less.

The twelve supporting statements behind the manifesto that describe how teams deliver value, such as delivering frequently, welcoming changing requirements, and reflecting regularly on how to become more effective.

The distinction between named frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, or SAFe and the underlying principles they express; frameworks are optional containers, principles are the durable intent a coach protects.

A way of managing work in which decisions rest on observation of actual results rather than on detailed upfront prediction, using transparency, inspection, and adaptation as its three pillars.

A problem category where cause and effect are only clear in hindsight and outcomes cannot be predicted from prior data; Agile practices are designed for this domain rather than for simple or complicated work.

A sense-making model that sorts situations into clear, complicated, complex, and chaotic domains, each requiring a different decision approach; coaches use it to justify why one practice fits and another does not.

The ability to adapt Agile adoption to an organisation's culture, constraints, and regulatory setting, rather than copying a template from elsewhere and expecting identical results.

A learning progression borrowed from martial arts: first follow rules exactly, then deliberately break and adapt them, finally transcend rules and act intuitively. It helps coaches pitch guidance at the learner's current stage.

The internalised beliefs and habits - transparency, willingness to experiment, focus on customer value - that make practices work; without it, ceremonies become empty ritual.

A state where Agile ceremonies and job titles exist but behaviour is unchanged: no real empowerment, no genuine inspection, and delivery still driven by command and control.

Copying the visible artefacts of another organisation's Agile adoption - stand-ups, sticky notes, boards - without understanding the purpose, producing imitation without benefit.

A lightweight framework built on fixed-length sprints, three accountabilities (Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers), and five events, used to deliver complex products incrementally with frequent inspection.

A flow-based method that visualises work on a board, limits work in progress, and manages throughput and cycle time; it introduces change incrementally rather than through fixed iterations.

A fixed timebox, typically one to four weeks, within which a team turns a selected backlog into a usable increment; its length is held constant to create a predictable rhythm for inspection.

A single sentence describing the purpose of the coming sprint, giving the team a shared target to negotiate scope against when new information arrives mid-iteration.

A shared, explicit checklist of quality criteria an increment must meet before it counts as complete, preventing the gap between 'finished' and 'releasable'.

The sum of completed, usable product work produced during a sprint; each increment should be in a releasable state and add value on top of previous increments.

The ongoing activity of clarifying, splitting, estimating, and reordering backlog items so that upcoming work is small enough and understood well enough to be pulled into a sprint.

A short statement of a need written from the user's perspective, with acceptance criteria, intended to spark conversation rather than to serve as a complete specification.

A small piece of functionality that cuts through every layer of the system, from interface to data, so it can be demonstrated and released independently.

A cap on how many items may sit in a given workflow stage at once; it exposes bottlenecks, shortens cycle time, and forces finishing before starting.

The relationship that average cycle time equals work in progress divided by throughput; it explains mathematically why limiting concurrent work shortens delivery time.

A chart plotting the number of items in each workflow state over time; widening bands reveal queues and bottlenecks, and the slope of the top line shows throughput.

A practice in which every change is kept in a deployable state and released through an automated pipeline, so releasing becomes a routine business decision rather than a project event.

A cycle of writing a failing test first, then the minimum code to pass it, then refactoring; it drives design from usage and builds a safety net for change.

The accumulated cost of shortcuts in design or code that make future change slower; like financial debt, it charges ongoing interest until deliberately repaid.

A recurring event where a team inspects how it works and commits to a small number of concrete improvements, closing the adaptation loop at team level.

The core loop of empirical work: examine actual results and process at regular intervals, then change something based on what was found rather than on plan.

A model of the emotional stages people pass through during disruptive change - shock, resistance, exploration, acceptance - used to time communication and support appropriately.

Behaviour that slows or blocks a change; treated in Agile coaching as information about unmet concerns or lost status rather than as disobedience to be overridden.

The practice of listing the people affected by or influencing a change and analysing their interest, influence, and stance, so engagement effort goes where it matters most.

Visible, active backing from leaders with authority over resources and priorities; without it, Agile transformations stall when the first conflicting demand appears.

The layer between executives and teams whose role, status, and metrics are most disrupted by Agile; engaging them early is a decisive factor in whether a transformation holds.

A staged, outcome-oriented plan for shifting an organisation's way of working, sequenced by capability and readiness rather than by a fixed calendar of framework rollouts.

A small, timeboxed change with a stated hypothesis and a measure, run to test whether a process tweak actually helps before it is adopted permanently.

An explicit contract at the start of a coaching relationship covering goals, confidentiality, roles, session cadence, and how success will be judged, protecting both parties.

The ongoing negotiation of who the client is, what they want, what the coach will and will not do, and how the work will end; it is revisited, not signed once.

The coach's deliberate way of being - curious, non-judgemental, holding the client as capable - which shapes the conversation more than any technique used.

Open, concise questions that challenge assumptions and open new thinking rather than seeking information the coach could infer; they shift ownership back to the client.

Listening for meaning, emotion, and what is not said, then reflecting it back accurately, so the client hears their own thinking and can move past it.

Specific, timely information about observed behaviour and its impact, offered as data the receiver can choose to use, not as a verdict on their character.

A shared belief that speaking up with questions, mistakes, or dissent will not lead to humiliation or punishment; it is the precondition for learning and honest retrospectives.

Adjusting how much direction and support a coach gives according to the coachee's competence and confidence on the specific task at hand.

Mentoring transfers the mentor's experience and advice; coaching draws the answer from the client through questions. Coaches switch deliberately and say which mode they are in.

Two further stances in the Agile coaching repertoire: teaching transfers a skill or concept, facilitating designs and guides a group process while staying neutral on content.

A conversation structure moving through Goal, Reality, Options, and Will, keeping a coaching session focused and ending with a concrete commitment to act.

Persistent self-doubt about one's competence despite evidence of achievement; it often surfaces in new coaches and can make them over-prepare or avoid challenging conversations.

Structured reflective support for the coach from a more experienced practitioner, used to examine their own reactions, blind spots, and ethical dilemmas in client work.