Iterate toward greater agility
You don’t need to define “perfect agile” up front. We help you set practical goals, like reducing time to value or improving satisfaction, and then iterate through focused improvement cycles.
Leadership Agility
Lead an organization where agile actually works.
Mountain Goat Software helps leaders close the gap between where their agile is today and what they hoped it would achieve. We combine practical leadership guidance, targeted training, and the Better Agile Framework to improve agility in a way that fits your culture and constraints.
Watch Mike explain how the Better Agile Framework leads to agile success
This is for you if…
We help senior leaders who are responsible for agile outcomes, not just agile activity.
- You’re accountable for outcomes and need clarity on what to ask of your teams.
- You aren’t seeing the results you expected from your investment in agile.
- You need predictable delivery without heavy processes.
- You don’t want long-term dependency on consultants.
- Previous training didn’t stick, and you don’t want a repeat.
Why agile initiatives stall
Most agile initiatives stall because leaders don’t have the support they need to guide teams to true agility, while keeping the business running.
Agile in name only.
Teams have adopted some practices, but work still flows the way it always has and results don’t change.
Inconsistent expectations.
Each group has its own definition of agile. “Scrum,” “Kanban,” and “we put everything in Jira” all coexist, making it hard to align and measure progress.
Pressure without support.
Teams are asked to deliver faster and adopt new practices, and don’t have the time to experiment effectively.
Change driven from the sidelines.
External coaches or a single department push agile, but senior leaders are unsure of their role beyond sponsoring the effort.
If any of this sounds familiar, we can help you build agility into your organization long-term.
“Helping teams succeed isn’t about doing agile, it’s about being agile.”
Mike Cohn
Founder, Mountain Goat Software
How great agile leadership works
Great agile leadership creates conditions where teams can safely improve how they work, with an improvement framework leaders can support. That’s the purpose of our Better Agile Framework.
Better Agile Framework anchors
Outcome clarity
Improvement cycles
Guiding coalition
Five pillars
Use improvement backlogs
We help leaders and teams create improvement backlogs that sit alongside product work. Each improvement becomes a small experiment: defined, prioritized, and reviewed so you can see what’s working.
Guide, don’t control the effort
Large-scale change works best with a guiding coalition. We help organizations develop this coalition of leaders who demonstrate the right behaviors and create safe conditions for teams to experiment and improve.
Strengthen the five pillars
We help you strengthen agility across five pillars: mindset, practices, roles, teamwork, and interactions outside the team. Ignoring any pillar makes change fragile; working across all of them creates durable, organization-wide improvement.
Supplement teams with communities
We help you form improvement communities: cross-functional groups focused on areas like testing, architecture, or product discovery. This ensures learning spreads faster and more consistently across the organization.
Use data to drive improvement
Successful leaders focus on indicators that show whether experiments are working, whether teams need support, and where to focus next. This creates a healthier environment where decisions are transparent, progress is visible, and improvement is based on evidence rather than pressure.
How we help leaders unlock real agility
Our work with leaders focuses on three outcomes: clarity, alignment, and sustained improvement.
Clarity
We help leaders understand what good agility looks like in practice, giving them clear, confident guidance on the expectations, behaviours, and conditions that allow agile teams to thrive.
Alignment
We work with leaders to create a unified, organisation-wide understanding of agile so teams aren’t pulling in different directions, and everyone uses the same language, principles, and ways of working.
Sustained Improvement
We equip leaders to guide continuous improvement over time by using short feedback loops, practical mentoring, and lightweight structures that build internal capability rather than long-term dependency.
What working with us looks like
Every leadership engagement is tailored, but the path usually follows these steps:
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Step 1
Leadership discovery call to assess agile pain points
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Step 2
Recommended leadership actions and training plan
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Step 3
Support and improvement loops that measure outcomes over time
Book a Private Training Consultation
Reserve time with a Mountain Goat Software advisor to explore your goals, timelines, and the exact mix of workshops your teams need.
Why leaders trust Mountain Goat Software
Leaders choose us when they need honest guidance, not buzzwords.
- Framework-agnostic. We work with Scrum, Kanban, and hybrids. The goal is better outcomes, not enforcing a specific brand of agile.
- Mentoring-first, not consultant-dependent. We build internal capability through mentoring and improvement backlogs instead of making you reliant on long-term consultants.
- Recognition and reach. Since 1998, Mountain Goat Software has trained more than 40,000 people and hundreds of agile teams worldwide.
- AI-supported coaching at scale. Our AI Agile Toolkit and integrated AI coach extend access to expert guidance beyond the classroom, keeping leadership messages aligned over time.
“Our Better Agile Framework is designed to give leaders practical levers for real change without adding bureaucracy.”
Mike Cohn
Founder, Mountain Goat Software
Trusted by leaders at
Got questions about agile leadership?
Connect with our AI-powered assistant to get quick answers about private training formats, scheduling, or certification pathways.
See how we supported agile leadership in a complex environment
In one Department of Defense engagement, we worked with leaders and teams to move software acquisition and development work into an agile format. Training, mentoring, and leadership support helped teams adapt practices without losing sight of regulatory and compliance constraints.
Ready to lead an organization where agile actually works?
If you’re responsible for agile outcomes and want a trusted partner to help you move from scattered practices to real business results, let’s talk. We’ll explore your goals, current constraints, and the best way to support your leaders and teams.