September 2021 Archives

Coach, Mentor, Developer

I’m Harry Bailey and I help foster tech teams and the humans who help form and fuel them. My work creates better outcomes, more value, happier humans and solid autonomous teams.

My experience as a product owner, business owner, tech strategist and software developer enables me take a team-focused approach. I look to support value creation at every level from pair coding through to business strategy.

Some describe my role as Delivery Coach and some as Agile Coach. My preference is Agility Coach. ‘Agile’ isn’t something to be achieve, and our focus as members of software development teams should be on removing the impediments that limit agility. I work with teams of all sizes and experience levels to be better tomorrow than they are today.

Thursday, September 23, 2021Thursday, September 23, 2021

Offboarding as a priority

There is nothing quite like the heart sinking feeling other team members get when a developer announces they’ll be leaving a small team.

Mild panic sets in, and everybody looks to each other for reassurance. Yet that moment is the right time to switch mindsets to focused offboarding. Ensuring the remaining members are left in the best state possible to continue their great work.

Team size is critical here. One developer leaving a team of five often has a huge impact relative to a developer leaving a team of 20. Small teams need to run offboarding in a way that acknowledges this size frailty and mitigates the short and long term risks associated with developer churn.