The Agile4ADHD
Community of Practice
welcome to my in-progress manifesto
August 5, 2025
For those of you just joining us, I spent the last year and a half doing 1:1 coaching and validating whether my method (which I call “Agile4ADHD”) was both transferable (meaning it would work for others) and teachable. The answer to both questions was “yes”, which means that I can begin offering support to clients that is more accessible than 1:1 coaching.
And the foundation of that support will be the Agile4ADHD Community of Practice.
What’s a Community of Practice?
In the process of learning to do what I do, I went through a number of certification programs. The most rigorous of these (the CSP and PMI-ACP) required weeks of study, extensive professional experience, and an exam. But even those were more effective for getting recognition for what I'd already learned than actually learning. I mainly developed the skills that I have by working, and through years of participation in my community of practice.
This community of practice was a meetup group that got together once a month. Each meeting included a workshop or lecture, a social period, discussion, and food. Gradually, I absorbed education in digestible chunks with a community of peers. In between meetings, I applied what I had learned to the work that I did with engineering teams, and developed my personal "Agile4ADHD" practice (which later became my coaching methodology). Over time, I received mentorship from people who had more experience, and graduated to providing mentorship to people who had less experience.
This is (IMHO) the best form of education. Small amounts of information, delivered continuously over a long period of time, and supported by a working community is the most effective means of learning for almost everyone, but especially neurodiverse people. Not only is it a better model for learning, but it’s better for human social and emotional health. So that’s what I’ll be attempting to create.
When is it starting?
The Agile4ADHD Community of Practice (A4ACP) will officially launch in Fall of 2025, as a benefit to graduates of the group and 1:1 coaching programs. If you have already received 1:1 coaching from me, you qualify for membership. Please reach out to me directly.
What about the rest of us?
It is my intention to make Agile4ADHD accessible to everyone. (Agile is, at its heart, based on the radical democracy of self-organizing workgroups.) That’s why I created the free tutorial: so that anyone sufficiently interested and determined could get started with their practice. Over time (by making use of my newsletter, monthly meetup, and other resources) it is entirely possible to learn Agile4ADHD via sweat equity (I did). But of course the paid options are much easier and faster.
In addition, starting in May of 2025, I began offering a free workshop every month. At present, these are relatively small and casual events for spot-coaching and building community. They will help you develop the skills that qualify you for A4ACP and support your fledgling practice (if you have one).
Come with your to-do list. Leave with clarity, momentum, and a plan.
When: Tuesday, September 23, 12-1 p.m. (Pacific)
Where: Zoom (details given at registration)
Amy has been tremendously helpful with improving my workflow and productivity. I’ve made significant progress on personal goals and learned a lot about how much work I can realistically expect myself to do. I would recommend Amy without reservation.
Elizabeth Bales
“Amy is a sincere, earnest and insightful coach. She’s always been able to generate intuitive, complex responses to my questions. As an independent, successful entrepreneur for over a decade, I’m not a quick “follower” and need a solutions-oriented perspective."
Jennifer Cheng
When you get to connect with her, you'll discover an amazing, broad-minded, and detail oriented person. I strongly endorse Amy and would welcome the opportunity to work with her again.
Nicholas Macauley
About my approach: why Agile is so effective with ADHD
Agile was designed to require as little working memory and general executive function as possible in order to free up such resources for other tasks. Also - while not designed for ADHD per se - it WAS designed for the degree of uncertainty and interruption typical of life with ADHD. Here are a few examples of what applied Agile methodology looks like for ADHD:
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Agile integrates rhythmic self-correction - The “inspect and adapt” approach so characteristic of Agile was designed to catch the kinds of omissions and mistakes typical of living with ADHD. These cycles serve to constantly scan for impediments to productivity and opportunities for improvement.
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Agile teaches better estimation - which ADHD sufferers tend to be particularly bad at. The cyclical predict-execute-and-review process provides the necessary feedback for developing this skill, and the experimental structure of Agile facilitates the evolution of a personalized framework to substitute for the NT executive function.
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Automation & Delegation - Agile practice emphasizes delegating human work (especially anything boring or repetitive) to automated processes whenever possible. Password managers, automated payments, and other forms of personal automation are immensely helpful in offloading executive function tasks to more reliable substitutes
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Simplification - Agile is largely about the process of breaking down big, uncertain, complicated things into smaller, manageable, simpler things; focusing/solving each one, and then putting the solutions together to achieve a complete whole.
I have 15 years of experience in the field (mostly at tech companies). My approach is direct, practical, and action oriented.
Let me show you how this works
Hop on my email list and I’ll send you a video and a walkthrough of this process so you can see how it works.
Amy creates the right mix of structure, awareness, and accountability, making it easier to navigate change.
She doesn’t just offer answers — she helps you discover your own. I’ve gained a lot from our work together and look forward to continuing.
Manager, Experience Design Lab
“Working with Amy is helping me market my business in my local community and make the most of the network connections I have. At each meeting, she encourages me to look for new opportunities. I like that I can create a list of goals to meet between appointments.
It's refreshing that she accounts for interruptions that may arise between appointments. Amy is a great thought partner! She has a lot of wisdom to share.
Thank you for helping me think through my client engagement and accountability AND for helping me move forward to my next step!
You set me up for a great 2025!