Agile Coach

Role Overview

The Agile Coach enables and governs Dynata’s Program Increment (PI) process and manages Release Train Engineers (RTEs) operating Agile Release Trains (ARTs). The coach drives organizational change and promotes SAFe principles and practices across Product, Engineering, and Operations, improving flow, delivery predictability, and business value.

Responsibilities

• Govern and enable the Dynata PI process across assigned programs, ensuring consistent adoption of SAFe-aligned practices.
• Lead, coach, and develop RTEs responsible for operating Agile Release Trains.
• Act as a servant leader and facilitation catalyst for RTEs, Scrum Masters, teams, and leadership.
• Ensure quarterly alignment between business and technology through PI Planning readiness and execution.
• Establish and monitor program-level performance standards (predictability, flow, dependency management, delivery against PI objectives).
• Provide advisory support to program and executive stakeholders by surfacing risks, trade-offs, and improvement opportunities.

PI Process Focus

PI Planning and Pre-Planning

• Define standards, templates, and governance for PI Planning and pre-PI refinement.
• Ensure RTEs prepare teams and stakeholders for PI Planning (capacity planning, backlog readiness, dependency identification).
• Validate PI Planning outputs such as objectives, Program Boards, risks, and dependencies.

In-PI Execution

• Oversee ART execution through RTEs, ensuring cross-team ceremonies are effective and outcome-driven.
• Monitor dependencies, risks, and impediments, including clear escalation paths.
• Track program-level metrics and drive corrective actions.

Inspect & Adapt

• Ensure Inspect & Adapt produces actionable improvements tied to measurable outcomes.
• Promote continuous improvement and address root-cause issues.
• Synthesize insights across programs and recommend systemic organizational improvements.

Coaching & Cross-Cutting

• Coach leaders, Product Managers, Scrum Masters, and teams on Agile principles and scaled delivery.
• Ensure adherence to Dynata’s Product & Engineering processes and agile governance standards.
• Maintain standards for program artifacts (e.g., Program Boards, PI Objectives, dashboards, dependency tracking).
• Support organizational change management and team maturity in agile practices.
• Refine Dynata’s agile operating model based on feedback and performance data.

Evolving Scope

As SAFe adoption matures, the role is expected to shift from operational involvement toward systemic optimization, portfolio strategy, and business value alignment.