There are many really excellent consultants who can help you (some of my “competitors” are my close colleagues, collaborators, and even friends). Consulting and coaching is much more than just a skills based role because it creates an intimate relationship between the consultant and the client. We all have the competency to help you get the job done, but we have different styles. Part of the purpose of this website is to help you understand my “style” and see if I fit your culture (or the culture you want to create). What I consider part of my “style” is that I strongly believe an organization is a diverse ecosystem, and insisting on single methodological solutions and tools can ruin that diverse eco-system. I also believe knowledge work, such as software development, is an example of a socio-technical system, which is a fancy way of saying that both the technical practices and the social systems – the people – must be optimized together as a whole. This is different from typical approaches, where new software development practices are installed and the social systems are expected to adapt.

My personal belief is the largest single determinant to success in software-intensive organizations is how well people are aligned to their purpose and how well they work together. I am an advocate of socio-technical systems and use the adoption of so called “Agile” and “Lean” practices to foster the emergence of effective social practices that enable organizations to get better at creating and delivering software products and services. I do this through a combination of training,  and enablement coaching. I work both independently and with my partners (e.g. Blue Agility in the USA). I use the term “enablement coaching” because your people are smart, they can do this.  With a bit of encouragement (and some resources) they can become effective coaches in their own right. After all, coaching is a responsibility and not a job description.