Clown

Clown

Mandatory Fun · On-site · Contract

About the Role

We are hiring a circus Clown to coach Agile Coaches.

You will be embedded within client engineering organisations for 1-2 full sprints. Your job is to shadow the Agile Coach, attend all ceremonies in full costume, and provide real-time coaching through a combination of physical comedy, balloon metaphors, and strategic honking. The Agile Coach will not be told what is happening.

You will supply and wear the clown shoes.

Responsibilities

• Shadow the client's Agile Coach through an entire sprint, silently at first, then with increasing participation, ultimately becoming the team's real Agile coach.

• Attend standups, retros, sprint planning, and refinement sessions in full clown attire

• Coach the Agile Coach on facilitation, timeboxing, and stakeholder management using only the tools of your trade (horn, balloon animals, riding around in tiny clown cars, and whatever other creepy shit you guys get up to)

• Demonstrate that all Agile ceremonies can be run equally well by a professional clown, thereby surfacing hard questions about process

• Honk the horn for blocked tickets. One honk per ticket. Two honks if it's been blocked for more than a sprint. Three honks and we escalate to a pie

• Produce a written Clown-to-Coach Assessment at the end of each engagement rating the Agile Coach on a scale from Ringmaster to Audience Member

• Remain in character at all times, including during 1:1s with engineering leadership

Requirements

• Professional clowning experience (circus preferred)

• No Agile certifications required. In fact, we prefer you have none. A fresh perspective is the point, and is equally valid, if not more.

• Physical comedy skills: pratfalls, juggling, and the ability to fit into a small car with other consultants

• Balloon animal proficiency: you will be expected to twist a balloon animal that represents the team's sprint velocity and explain it to the VP of Engineering

• Comfortable maintaining character when someone says this is actually really helpful

• Must own your own shoes

• Juggalos will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Nice to Have

• Unicycle proficiency

• Experience with Jira

• A working knowledge of what velocity means, purely so you can look disappointed when you see the burndown chart

• Pie throwing accuracy

What We Offer

• The rare professional satisfaction of being the most honest person in the room

To apply, send a 30-second video of yourself building a burn-down chart or playing a game of planning poker