What am I?

[textile]Of late I've had difficulty labelling myself. I don't mean in terms of my specialisation in software testing. Nor do I mean my ability to be a generalist. I mean, in terms of the service I provide.

The motivation for getting me involved with a team is 'transformation from within'. To avoid confusion, I will generally call myself a 'practitioner-consultant'. Part practitioner and part consultant. I am not sure that this best reflects what I do...

I will typically be attached to a team for a period and work closely with the team-leader and team-members to find ways of making the team more effective (sometimes their goal is becoming 'Agile' but my goal is to help them grow their effectiveness). How do I do it?

Sometimes, I'll be looking at the symptoms a team is experiencing and using workshops or just in discussion I'll help them identify steps they can take to address those symptoms (consulting). Other times I'll be watching how someone works and guide them in ways that will improve what they are doing (coaching). Other times, I'll be available as a person with whom a team member can discuss a technical problem and I might help them think about how to approach it, perhaps by sharing my own experiences (mentor). Other times, the team is snowed under but there is an opportunity to make an improvement but not without some investment (e.g. code/tools implementation/ approach) so I'll actually do the work then hand it over to someone who can carry it on (practitioner).

I like working this way, rather than just as a part-time coach, consult or troubleshooter (which still do occasionally). By working so closely with one team at a time, I can really see the impact that I am having and feel that I am able to make progress much more quickly. Also, spending a proportion of my time as a practitioner keeps me current and helps my practical skills continue to improve with practice on real projects rather than on a pretend project on my laptop. The downside of this is that it limits how radical my innovations can be because I am under greater time-constraints.

The other difficulty is that it limits how many companies I can work with. Currently, my main client consumes 4 days per week, every week.

So, I am part consultant, part coach, part mentor, part practitioner.

"Rachel Davies":http://twelve71.typepad.com/rachel/ advised me that some companies call this 'enablement'. I don't know if I like this term since it is possibly too general, but it is reflective of my involvement. I do whatever is most appropriate to enable the team to improve its effectiveness. I don't think I want to be called an 'Enabler' though.

Am I merely a 'senior team member'? Not really... although I do operate a bit like that at times. It is definitely something different...

So, what should I call myself? I don't know. That's why I am writing this... so that I can ask you.

Consultant? But I'm also a...
Practitioner? But I'm also a...
Coach? But I'm also a...
Mentor?

How would you label me? (no expletives s'il vous plait :-)