Abstract Agile coaches play a key role in supporting software teams and organisations during agile transformations, yet little is known about how they understand and design for the continuation of agility after their involvement ends. This study fills that research gap by examining how agile coaches perceive post-exit outcomes and describing the strategies they use to support endurance beyond their engagement. Drawing on sixteen semi-structured interviews with professional agile coaches across multiple organisations, we identify six interconnected themes that capture coaches’ accounts of embedding routines, transferring ownership, and aligning agile values with organisational contexts. We synthesise these themes into the concept of sustainment work, referring to the professional and organisational efforts that coaches describe undertaking to support the continuation of agile ways of working beyond their direct involvement. This synthesis is represented in an empirically derived model comprising three interrelated domains: Embedding Practices, Enabling Ownership, and Aligning Culture. The model reflects how coaches conceptualise the relationship between their interventions, anticipated post-exit trajectories, and the endurance of agile practices, rather than providing evidence of long-term organisational outcomes. The paper contributes theoretically grounded insights into how agility is understood and approached by highlighting coaches’ perceptions and intended sustainment strategies, as an ongoing organisational concern rather than a time-bound coaching intervention.

Abstract Agile coaching has emerged as a key enabler of agile adoption and organisational transformation. Despite its growing prevalence, there has not been much research into agile coaching, and there is a need for a better understanding of the current state of research and where the gaps lie. To fill this gap, we present a systematic mapping study (SMS) of agile coaching to identify and categorise existing research. An initial search identified 497 studies, of which 22 primary studies were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. We provide a thematic analysis of the included papers and a summary of challenges and benefits associated with agile coaching. Key findings indicate a steady rate of research studies since 2013, predominantly from Europe. The most extensively researched areas are coaches’ skills, roles, and responsibilities. However, there is a noticeable lack of research depth in other areas and an absence of theory in all papers. Finally, we propose a roadmap for further research, highlighting unexplored aspects of agile coaching, including its impact across diverse organisational contexts. These findings provide a foundation for future research and offer practical insights for practitioners and researchers in the agile domain.

Gaining an understanding of the state of an organisation’s culture during Agile transformation is important because culture underpins all aspects of an organisation’s way of working and can indicate how successful the transformation has been. This paper explores the impact of Agile transformation on various dimensions of organisational culture over time within a technology organisation. Additionally, it demonstrates how datasets collected using the Pulse survey instrument, a tool for assessing an organisation’s culture, can be analysed to provide actionable insights to support organisations in their cultural transformation efforts. This paper employs a mixed research method to conduct a post-hoc analysis of the datasets obtained from a technology organisation that utilised the survey instrument in 2021 and 2022 to assess its transformation agenda. The collected data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. We also assess the internal reliability and validity of the instrument using Cronbach’s Alpha, Composite Reliability, factor loadings and Average Variance Extracted. Results show that all the Alpha values of the instrument fall between 0.744 and 0.901, which are higher than the satisfactory value of 0.700, indicating acceptable to excellent reliability. After the intervention, the targeted cultural area, that is, Trust and Transparency (TT) improved significantly, and there was a general improvement across almost all areas. The organisation found the insights provided by the survey instrument aided their understanding of the change process. This study presents an analysis framework to support organisations using or seeking to use the Pulse survey instrument in their efforts to transform culture. The findings validate the use of statistical analysis and data-driven approaches to track shifts in various dimensions of organisational culture over time. The study concludes that targeted efforts on culture elements can lead to corresponding improvements in many areas including those not targeted, emphasising the interconnectedness of Agile culture elements.

Abstract Agile organizations have to deal regularly with change and at the same time adapt to sustain agility. In this paper, we present an initial study to identify factors considered when changes need to be made to sustain agility. We used a novel data collection approach, critical decision method (CDM), and investigated three theoretical lenses, paradox theory, situation awareness and shared mental models, to explore the kind of practical consequences they help to uncover. This paper presents the findings of this initial study together with reflections on the data collection method and the three theoretical lenses. Three key dimensions relevant to sustaining agility emerge from the use of these theoretical lenses: teams vs organization; understanding the environment vs the impact of change internally; and understanding “now” vs looking into the future.

As of 2021, there were more than 170 guidelines on AI ethics and responsible, trustworthy AI in circulation according to the AI Ethics Guidelines Global Inventory maintained by AlgorithmWatch, an organisation which tracks the effects of increased digitalisation on everyday lives. However, from the perspective of day-to-day work, for those engaged in designing, developing, and maintaining AI systems identifying relevant guidelines and translating them into practice presents a challenge.