Water spider Agile coaches, not water strider Agile coaches

In Lean Manufacturing there is a role called mizusumashi or "water spider" which is nominally someone who fetches material for operators on a line.  Jon Miller has a good blog post clarifying misconceptions about this:

"The Water Spider position is often confused with a simple material handler or an entry level “go fetch” person. Far from it, the Water Spider needs to be thoroughly familiar with the materials, tools and methods of the process they are supporting."

In other words, the Water Spider cannot be effective in supporting a process, unless s/he is thoroughly familiar with it.  Unlike water striders that only skim the surface, we want water spiders that can go deep into a process if necessary

John Shook wrote about his annoyance with people downplaying focus on working on the work in order to focus on changing culture (aka "ways of thinking"):

"You may be able to create wealth through a variety of business models or ways of thinking. But if you want to create real value, and jobs that value people, you must think hard about how your people are working every day. That’s because the essence of lean thinking is about the WORK. Lean means working on the work: the value-creating work that occurs on the frontlines of your enterprise."

So about Agile Coaches...

I see a similar problem with a potential over-emphasis on "culture" and "management behaviour" independent of insight on the actual work that needs to be done.  That is, water strider Agile coaches.

I submit that an effective Agile coach will be more like a water spider, able to go deep if necessary to support how people work.

Of course, we must acknowledge the breadth and depth of knowledge involved in modern software development. It would take a lot of time of effort to become a water spider, but I'll still suggest that this is the right True North to set.