An Advisory Retainer is a flexible consulting arrangement that gives you access to my strategic and tactical expertise on an ongoing basis. Rather than a one-time engagement, this service ensures continuous support, mentorship, and strategic guidance as your team’s Agile journey evolves.
Who is This For?
- Organizations transitioning to Agile that need expert support to navigate challenges.
- Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Agile teams looking to refine their practices.
- Executives and leaders seeking Agile coaching and strategy alignment.
- Development teams that need better workflow optimization and Agile best practices.
Benefits
- Consistent Expert Support – Access expert Agile coaching without the commitment of a full-time hire.
- Flexible Engagement – Get guidance when you need it—weekly calls, Slack/Teams communication, or ad-hoc problem-solving sessions.
- Tailored Solutions – Advice specific to your teams, projects, and Agile maturity.
- Continuous Improvement – Regular assessments to ensure your Agile adoption is evolving.
- Proactive Risk Management – Identify and address Agile roadblocks before they become major issues.
How It Works
- Initial Consultation – We discuss your needs and goals.
- Customized Engagement Plan – We craft a tailored support structure for your team.
- Ongoing Support – Regular touchpoints and on-demand assistance.
- Continuous Feedback Loop – Periodic reviews to refine and enhance your Agile approach.
Our agreement entitles you to unlimited access to me via phone, email, and messaging. I respond to all messages no later than the next business day, though in practice, my response time is much quicker (especially during business hours, but also evenings and weekends when needed).
Meetings can be scheduled in advance and will typically take place over phone or video calls. When beneficial, we’ll supplement discussions with screen sharing and collaborative tools (e.g., Jira, Miro, Zoom, MS-Teams, Google Meet, etc.)
Areas of Involvement
You can assign a person in your organization to funnel any of your team’s questions my way, and I will respond within one business day.
Additionally, I am available to sit in on your team meetings to identify areas for optimization and provide observations and suggestions either in real-time or as a follow-up.
What’s Included
- Coaching & Mentorship – Guidance for Agile teams, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and leadership.
- Process Optimization – Identify and eliminate inefficiencies in your Agile workflow.
- Facilitation Optimzations – Backlog refinement, sprint planning, retrospectives, and Agile ceremonies.
- Project Management Support – Strengthening the bridge between the project management and the team’s agile software building approach.
- Provide high-level reviews of the code base and offer guidance on best practices for software development, organization, and deployment to align with an agile approach.
- Advise non-technical Scrum Masters and Project Managers on how the development practices fit into the bigger picture of agile delivery.
- Recommend ways to structure the backlog and configure work ticket tools to better align with agile principles.
- Assist with writing and organizing user stories and tasks for improved clarity and prioritization.
- Help determine which work items belong in the sprint and which do not to maintain focus and delivery efficiency.
What’s Not Included
- Run team meetings or agile ceremonies.
- Perform hands-on coding or development tasks.
Investment
The fee is $6,000 CAD per month, with a money back satisfaction guarantee.
Let’s Talk
If you’re ready to elevate your Agile capabilities, let’s connect. Whether you need ongoing coaching, a sounding board for Agile challenges, or an advisor to guide your transformation, my Advisory Retainer provides the support you need.
Contact me to discuss your needs and let’s explore how we can work together.