The Scrum Alliance and the Business Agility Institute partnered on a client survey focused toward—Skills in the New World of Work that was released in October 2023. You can get a copy of the report here.
The key question on the cover – Which agile skills are most in demand in today’s workforce?
But on page #20, the key question is reframed to – Which skills are most in demand in today’s workforce?
While the questions are close, I’m imagining the “agile” drove most of the respondent thinking.
I would encourage everyone to read it, as it contains some interesting findings and insights. That being said, there are some things in the survey (assumptions, commentary, shared data, and conclusions) that I want to challenge a bit. While the overall tone of this article will be constructive feedback, I don’t want to diminish the effort behind the report.
In a recent Moose Herd the discussion surrounded the release of the report and the impact and relevancy of the findings, how it was something interesting, thought-provoking, insightful, and new. I honestly didn’t read it entirely that way. Instead, I felt it also a bit contrived, self-serving, and old news. Now let’s serially walk through the report for my more detailed reactions…
Reactions to Key Findings
Pages 4 & 5
1) Human skills are just as important, if not more important, than functional skills in the new world of work…
Of course, this has been true during my entire 40+ year career.
2) Organizations are expecting individuals to have multiple deep skill capabilities, not just one
Again, it’s always been true.
3) Agile acumen (practical knowledge and experience) is seen as a crucial skill…
Do I need to repeat it?
My most visceral reaction to this finding is—Yes! I think what’s happened, particularly in specific roles like Scrum Master and Agile Coach, is that they’ve become diluted with certifications with minimal experience.
4) As a dedicated role, demand for Agile Coaches is low…
This disappoints and saddens me.
But I think there is a backstory related to my point in #3. I don’t think a majority of the respondents have actually seen a highly & broadly skilled, well-rounded, and experienced Agile Coach in action. Heck, do they even know what an Agile Coach does?
5) Education pathways need to move toward skill-based learning over role-based learning…
I can get behind this one, although I don’t see a huge difference between the “learnings.”
But I think a more powerful finding would have been—Education pathways need to move away from short-term, certification-based learning to longer-term apprenticeships, mentorships, and cohort-based experiential learning. Now THAT would have been a key finding or conclusion!
Top Human Skills
Pages 7 and 11
Communication and Attitude Behaviors were the top human skills. Both resonated powerfully with me. On page 11, there was a Going Deep focus on communication, which added emotional intelligence, empathy, and influence to aspects of it.
I can’t argue with any of these revelations or conclusions. That said, none of this is new or modern perspectives, so I struggle with it surfacing on a question that wants to explore skills in a new world of work.
I also don’t think human skills are solely related to “agile”.
One final point: I expect Agile Coaches, or at least the well-rounded ones, to exhibit strong human skills. From an Agile Coaching Growth Wheel perspective, these would be most reinforced in Self-Mastery, Leadership, and Guided Learning competency areas. So, this emphasis amplifies the role of Agile Coaching in this new world of work.
The Importance of Education and The Role Certifications Play
Pages 15 and 16
From page 15—“Overall, education remains a key differentiator in employment opportunities. While all organizations value both experience and education, individuals with proven agile education generally earn more and are able to apply these skills in their day-to-day work.”
From page 16— “Certifications continue to play an important role in both an individual’s career and company hiring decisions.”
And page 16 key takeaway—Certifications, along with demonstrated experience, contribute to higher salaries.
My only response is—really? I don’t think so. I believe this is coming out because of a biased interpretation of results. This indicates that the Scrum Alliance (or any certifying body) influences the interpretation and conclusions.
My experience says that certification value continues to decrease while the value of well-rounded demonstrated experience increases. To be clear, I’m not saying that certifications have no value to the individual. However, the value proposition over time has strongly leaned into learned experience over classroom learning. To see it otherwise is either flawed data or flawed interpretation. At least IMHO.
Agile Jobs in the Market
Page 17
In a word, I found the role/jobs supply & demand chart to be a bit confusing and misaligned with my own experience and observations. For example, I didn’t understand how Agile Coaching was in low demand-high supply while Scrum Master and Product Owner we in high-demand/low supply.
It almost seemed like the data was skewed to incent more people to continue the entry-level certifications for Scrum Masters and Product Owners. From my perspective, I see those roles as more equivalent to the coaching roles, as both are in jeopardy. Well, to be clear, it's in jeopardy for the inexperienced, solely certified, and folks who are simply chasing the Benjamins.
And I’m not the only one questioning the supply dynamics conclusions. Here’s a post by Xavier Quesada Allué on LinkedIn that also examines it.
Wrapping Up
Whenever I present an Agile Coaching talk about my EBAC book, the Agile Coaching Growth Wheel, or Agile Coaching skills development, I try to do the following—
Tease apart agile coaching skills from the title or role. For example, I amplify how Agile Coaching skills can benefit managers and leaders.
Amplify how agile coaching skills are deep and broad and need quite a lot of practice to become competent.
Show how important a continuous growth mindset is to grow in your skills. Which is one of the reasons certifications are largely insufficient.
Show how agile coaching skills depend on your Self Mastery or, in other words, are inside-out learning experiences beginning with your practices.
These ideas are represented in the “Going Deep” sections and other learning learnings from the survey.
While I have no direct insights into the survey or analysis process, there do seem to be some inherent biases including—
A limited number of respondents (1,200 individuals and ~ 300 companies)
I’m guessing the survey invitees were from the BAI and Scrum Alliance member lists, so they were limited mainly from that perspective.
A bias towards larger organizations (500+ and Western European & North America).
In the case of the Scrum Alliance, there is a clear bias toward validating agile certifications and certification-based education.
I agree that as agilists we need to focus more on skill development (T-shaped, Pi-shaped, depth, and breadth) regardless of our roles.
I would also say that most Agile Coaches need deeper product, business, technical, and direct management/leadership skills to be effective. This is something the report alludes to, but one I want to amplify as a point contrary to Professional Coaches, Life Coaches, and Certification-only Enabled coaches who permeate our community.
In sum, while the report has valuable insights and inspires some necessary actions, I will take its implications for Agile Coaches with a grain of salt.
From my perspective, there is still a need for Agile Coaches AND Agile Coaching skills. The real problem is the market lacks highly skilled Agile Coaches, and most clients don’t know what a “good one” looks like nor understand the need for their skills and the impact they can make.
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.