Will AI replace agile coaches?

What is AI?

Let me start by saying that I’m no AI specialist and even though I am a software developer, I’ve never coded anything remotely related to AI. But still, I have a basic understanding.

Today, some of the most common models are reactive machines, limited memory AI, and deep learning (what ChatGPT is!). What most of these technologies do is be really efficient at understanding and generating language. So, that means that as of today, as interesting as ChatGPT sounds, it cannot really reason like a human. It doesn’t have imagination or morals. It just looks through a backlog of info that, if fed incorrectly, will tell you things that are untrue or that sometimes just don’t make sense when you look at the details. 

AI is not only now, and not only in IT

If you are afraid of things like ChatGPT, I will not dismiss your fears. I prefer to focus on the positive aspect, but I agree that AI has high potential for wonder but also for harm. So, let’s hope we have nice regulations on how it can be used. That being said, let’s remember that technology, bringing intelligence and calculations outside of what humans do, is not new. We used to do plenty of things manually that are now done by computers, and ChatGPT is just another one of these steps in evolving technology. Just think about all the progress made in medical technology, for example! Yet Doctors continue to exist. And in fact, what happens is those technologies have a potential to elevate the palatability of our professions. So, I think for agile coaching, like for any other thing, we will leave a position of talking about the basics of agility and get to much more interesting places surrounding human connection and experimentation.

Let’s see what ChatGPT can do for us

I’m going to put ChatGPT to the test and ask it a series of common questions in the agile coaching profession. Let’s see the results:

I asked: How to coach a scrum team?

The results: ChatGPT returned quite a bit of information in the form of an 18 point list! All of the information it provided was relevant and made sense. I found it interesting that the results mentioned adapting your coaching style and being masterful in conflict resolution – this shows that it recognizes that the scrum master has to operate in the realm of agile coaching. While interesting and useful, it is very brief, but you can of course ask it to generate more info. So far it’s wonderful though! It makes sense and makes some great points.

I asked: How to run a sprint review?

The results: Again, it is giving us a list. Essentially a script of what we should be doing in a sprint review. Pretty much like a checklist! And isn’t that what we are looking for really? 

But, do you think maybe it’s an unfair advantage that an agile coach in the beginning of their career or a manager can access this info so easily? I think it’s perfectly fair. It is telling you the what and maybe a bit of the how, but there is nothing that actually helps you in the detail of doing these things. For example, number 10 says to “Feedback Integration: after the sprint review, the Product Owner should review the collected feedback and prioritize any new items in the Product Backlog.” This doesn’t really tell you how to do the prioritization, and there are many ways to do it. Of course you could always ask ChatGPT afterwards! But in the end you’re going to need to do a lot of reading. I don’t see how it replaces the contextualized help of an agile coach or scrum master, but it does shortcut a lot of things for everybody which is great.

I asked: What questions to ask in a sprint review?

The results: ChatGPT generated a whole bunch of questions for us. They are all pretty good, definitely sound and usable. A lot of them are really coaching questions, like “what should we focus on?”, “how can we improve?” Some are very inquisitive but could be improved, such as “did we learn anything new about the product?” would be better as “what did we learn about the product?”. As a coach we know to avoid yes or no questions. 

The power of questions though lies in being able to contextualize them to the situation and organization. Every organization, team, etc. is different and has its own culture, so from the choice of words to how you prepare the room to feel comfortable, is unique. This requires that you, as a coach, be extremely tuned in to your environment. But ChatGPT is generic. The ideas are good but it can’t give you that depth and contextualization in the day to day. 

I asked: Can you adapt scrum to everything?

The results: It says no and provides a list of several cases in which you would not want to use scrum. One being “complexity overload” but I find that one interesting because scrum is great in complex situations. So, the devil is in the details. It says you wouldn’t use scrum when there is lack of stakeholder engagement, but scrum isn’t there to solve that. Stakeholder engagement is something you would need regardless if you were using scrum in most of the business settings today. It’s in the little things where it seems to be inaccurate. It isn’t blatantly wrong but if you were someone with a little experience who didn’t know how to scrutinize the information, it could be problematic. 

If I reword my question to “when not to use scrum?” it still gives similar information, some of which is not really true. For example “for small, short term projects” or in “highly regulated industries” is just not true. Scrum absolutely isn’t for everyone in all contexts, but I don’t like the ideas that ChatGPT has presented.

I asked: What do you use if you can’t use scrum?

The results: ChatGPT mentions Kanban, Waterfall, Agile Kanban, etc. but it is mixing a lot of things that have to do with project management. It doesn’t mention Scrumban and some of the other interesting agile approaches. It went outside of agile. Why not mention SAFE isn’t here as an alternative for Hybrid. 

I asked: How long for implementing scrum?

The results: It’s giving phases with timelines, almost like installing your agile in a waterfall manner. Actually, you can use scrum in a very iterative manner. Saying 1 – 2 weeks for each phase isn’t really accurate, it doesn’t work like that. 

So, will ChatGPT eliminate agile coaching jobs?

No! At least not for a very long time. Because ChatGPT spills knowledge and only the very beginner agile coaches would repeat that knowledge. I have a video on it actually! 

It’s like going to google and asking a question – some of the results are good but they often lack contextualized, empirical experience. As an agile coach you are someone who is an experienced agile practitioner. You’ve seen things happening in a variety of contexts and situations and you learn from that. Your value here is listening to people and playing back our observations, and that is a much more delicate and nuanced intelligence that so far, we don’t have technology for.

The other reason people won’t be using ChatGPT instead of an agile coach is that we are human and people want to connect. Until computers can really emote, even if it is fake, we will be craving that human connection. When we want to grow together, having a real coach is a requirement. 

An Agile Coach is also someone who can lead by example. Maybe a manager is trying to create an environment where their team is encouraged to ask questions, but they themselves are not experienced in fostering that kind of participation. I know we don’t want it to happen forever, but you might have to show them the way by asking the good questions. The presence of the agile coach can eliminate some of the discomfort that a manager may be facing.

Can you coach using ChatGPT?

Of course! Who hasn’t googled something before and really, it’s not that different. ChatGPT is a better aggregator or organizer of things, but in the end, it’s just going through a bunch of blogs and articles and trying to make sense of things. 

BUT…. 

Be mindful when you use AI generated information. 

You can’t guarantee where that info is coming from. You have to do your due diligence. This is also true now that everything has become an ad, whether that be on social media or in your inbox. You can’t guarantee that in a couple of years, the info that ChatGPT is collecting is sponsored content, so you’re only seeing the info from the sponsors that paid the most. 

Be ethical. 

Keep the Agile Coaching Code of Ethics in mind. Principle #3 talks about introspection and continuing professional development. You can use ChatGPT, learn from it, and continue on to develop your own strategies. Principle #2 talks about acting within your ability. If everything you do is based on googling or asking ChatGPT, you need to ask yourself if you have the ability to perform at this job. It is really important to not just declare yourself a coach because you represent all of us. And in that aspect, a final piece is to consider the implications of confidentiality as you are feeding information into ChatGPT and other tools. You might let classified information escape and remember you abide by that code of ethics. 

So, ChatGPT in general can be a nice helper, but definitely not a substitute for a very experienced agile coach and scrum master!