ACE · a six-month live program
Lead complex change when no single method is enough.
For experienced Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches who are tired of pushing frameworks into an organization that does not move.
- Next cohort
- January 2027
- Duration
- Six months
- Format
- Live online
- Cohort
- Maximum 8
- Tuition
- $9,995
The point where the usual answers stop working
You learned Scrum.
That was not the hard part.
You need more than another framework.
ACE is for seasoned practitioners navigating politics, incentives, conflict, legacy systems, and leadership dynamics.
Build the judgment, voice, and influence to diagnose what is really happening and choose an intervention that fits.
Apply for the next cohort
How you learn
The ideas matter. What you can do with them matters more.
01
Learn across the whole system
Build the range to connect psychology, leadership, product, technical delivery, organizational design, budgeting, metrics, and change.
02
Work on situations that matter
Use current or past cases, cohort cases, simulations, and Matthias's own transformation work to turn ideas into decisions and next actions.
03
Build something only you could deliver
Develop a keynote while finding the stories, strengths, passions, and point of view that make your work recognizably yours.
The six months
A clear journey, with room for your real cases.
Each month widens what you can see and do. Important ideas return at greater depth as you apply them, receive feedback, and connect them to your keynote.
Month 1
See the system behind the symptoms
Stop treating every stalled transformation as a process problem.
See the system behind the symptoms
Stop treating every stalled transformation as a process problem.
You will learn to
Read a situation through human, leadership, product, technical, structural, financial, and incentive lenses. Distinguish symptoms, explanations, and evidence.
In practice
Map a substantial current or historical case before proposing a solution. See Matthias's Music & Agility keynote, then explore your own strengths and possible talk directions.
Month 2
Work with resistance and conflict
Understand what pushback is protecting before trying to overcome it.
Work with resistance and conflict
Understand what pushback is protecting before trying to overcome it.
You will learn to
Behavior, motivation, trust, psychological safety, power, influence, and the difference between interpersonal, role, goal, structural, and incentive conflict.
In practice
Diagnose a conflict without assigning blame, rehearse a difficult conversation, and choose when to coach, teach, facilitate, advise, persuade, or challenge.
Month 3
Connect product decisions to technical delivery
Look beyond a busy team to the complete path from opportunity to customer response.
Connect product decisions to technical delivery
Look beyond a busy team to the complete path from opportunity to customer response.
You will learn to
Projects versus products, markets, discovery, Lean Startup, user-story mapping, prioritization, value streams, TDD, BDD, refactoring, CI/CD, DevOps, architecture, and flow.
In practice
Separate product uncertainty from delivery constraints, map where value is blocked, and ask credible technical questions without pretending to be the engineer.
Month 4
Work with leaders and make value visible
Move from asking for executive support to becoming useful in executive conversations.
Work with leaders and make value visible
Move from asking for executive support to becoming useful in executive conversations.
You will learn to
Leadership pressures, access, trust, power, decision rights, sponsor alignment, leading and lagging indicators, and Evidence-Based Management.
In practice
Rehearse sponsor conversations, challenge without immediately losing trust, and design evidence that connects your work to intended outcomes honestly.
Month 5
Change the conditions around the teams
Address structures and incentives that make the desired behavior irrational.
Change the conditions around the teams
Address structures and incentives that make the desired behavior irrational.
You will learn to
Team Topologies, dependencies, alignment and autonomy, self-management, information and decision flow, participatory budgeting, Lean Portfolio Management, and AI's organizational effects.
In practice
Trace a constraint through structure, decisions, funding, and incentives, then design an intervention that is possible within the influence you actually have.
Month 6
Lead change that can continue without you
Replace the transformation master plan with learning, ownership, and momentum.
Lead change that can continue without you
Replace the transformation master plan with learning, ownership, and momentum.
You will learn to
Assignment clarification, top-down and bottom-up starting points, change experiments, allies, distributed ownership, adult learning, and reflective practice.
In practice
Integrate every diagnostic lens in a complex case, shape the first sequence of experiments, and rehearse your complete keynote before presenting it to the cohort.
Your keynote
A talk you could give tomorrow, and a clearer answer to why someone should hire you.
You do not need a topic or a specific audience before ACE. You find both as the work develops.
Matthias begins by presenting Music & Agility: a keynote that uses his passion for music to help people understand agility without jargon or fear. It shows how a personal interest can become professionally useful.
Your version may have an entirely different purpose. The Agile Wizard drew on esports and role-playing. Other participants have used American football or volleyball to make agile ideas accessible. The common thread is that the talk sounds like you, gives people a reason to remember you, and is useful beyond the program.
You leave with a developed 20–30 minute keynote
You test it, rehearse it, present it virtually to the cohort, and receive feedback from Matthias and your peers. With your agreement, guests may be invited to the final presentation.
The learning experience
Small enough to work on your situation.
ACE is capped at eight participants. You are not one listener among fifty; your questions, cases, experiments, and professional development have room.
A typical month
3 × 90 min + 1 × 3 hours
The longer session creates room for simulations, extended practice, difficult conversations, and keynote rehearsals.
Individual attention
4 mentoring sessions
Four 60-minute sessions during ACE, normally with Matthias. Another expert may join or lead one when that is more useful for you.
Between sessions
Discord and experiments
A private cohort channel is monitored during the program. Apply an idea in real work or a past case, then bring the result back.
When life intervenes
Recordings for every session
Cohort-only recordings help you catch up and revisit the work. They remain available for twelve months after ACE.
We will make the timing work. The proposed regular slot is Wednesday, 18:00–19:30 Europe/Berlin. The exact day, time, and planned breaks are arranged with the enrolled cohort. If no single weekly overlap exists, Matthias will offer two regular-session slots.
Matthias may also bring in specialists from psychology, leadership, innovation, or another field when their perspective would strengthen the work.
Why Matthias
Because the problems do not respect disciplinary boundaries.
Matthias brings more than 20 years of experience across software engineering, product building, leadership, coaching, and organizational transformation.
That range is the basis of ACE. A conflict may have a psychological surface and a budgeting cause. A delivery problem may begin in product strategy. A leadership problem may be reinforced by metrics. You learn to follow the problem across those boundaries.
Organizations where Matthias has worked with leaders, teams, coaches, or event audiences
Is ACE your next step?
Built for experience, not for a particular job title.
ACE may fit if you…
- Have substantial practical experience with teams, agility, leadership, conflict, or organizational change.
- Keep encountering problems that framework-level answers do not resolve.
- Want to work with leaders and the wider organization, not only facilitate team events.
- Are ready to examine cases, practise, receive feedback, and contribute to a small cohort.
It is probably not the right fit if you…
- Need an introductory Scrum course or fast exam preparation.
- Want a self-paced video library without live practice and feedback.
- Expect one framework recipe to remove uncertainty from complex change.
- Cannot participate comfortably in an English-language professional cohort.
Tuition
Six months of serious professional development.
Full payment or the first agreed installment secures your place after acceptance.
Paid in full
$9,995
For a self-funded participant, this includes applicable VAT.
Apply with full payment
Six monthly payments
$1,750 / month
$10,500 total. Applicable VAT is included for self-funded participants.
Apply with installments
When an employer or another organization pays or reimburses the tuition, the price is $9,995 plus VAT where legally applicable. The correct invoice treatment is confirmed after acceptance.
30-day refund policy. Join the kickoff and the first sessions. If ACE is not right for you within 30 calendar days of kickoff, tell Matthias and receive a full refund. No questions asked. This is additional to any mandatory rights that apply to your purchase.
Everything included
The mentoring, practice, feedback, and recordings described on this page are all part of the tuition.
- Six months of live teaching, practice, and case work
- A typical month with three 90-minute sessions and one three-hour deep dive
- Four 60-minute individual mentoring sessions
- Private Discord space monitored during the program
- Cohort-only recordings during ACE and for twelve months afterward
- Development, rehearsal, presentation, and feedback for your keynote
- A small cohort capped at eight participants
- ACE Certified Agile Coach completion certificate issued by Matthias Orgler
Questions
What you may want to know before applying.
Can I complete ACE while working full-time?
Yes. Plan approximately three to four hours per week on average, including the live sessions. Keynote drafting and rehearsal make some later weeks a little heavier.
What if I miss a live session?
Sessions are recorded for the cohort, so you can catch up or revisit the material. Recordings remain available for twelve months after ACE. Live practice and peer interaction are still an important part of the experience.
Do I need a current team or client?
No. You need practical experience, but you may be between roles. You can work with situations from previous jobs, Matthias's cases, simulations, and cases brought by the cohort.
Do I need three years of experience?
Three or more years is a useful indication, not a hard cutoff. What matters is enough practical experience to recognize the limits of framework-level answers and contribute to a professional cohort.
Is this a Scrum, SAFe, ICAgile, or ICF certification?
No. ACE learns from multiple frameworks and approaches, but it is not exam preparation and the completion certificate is not externally accredited.
What language is the program in?
The cohort works in English. Individual mentoring can be in German by mutual preference, but you need to be comfortable participating in the English-language cohort.
Can my employer pay?
Yes. Every participant still applies individually. Organization-sponsored tuition is $9,995 plus VAT where legally applicable; the correct invoice treatment is confirmed after acceptance.
Next cohort planned for January 2027
Apply for one of eight places.
This should take less than five minutes. The questions give Matthias enough context for a useful conversation; they are not an entrance exam.
- 1. Send the short application. Share your situation, goal, and what you are running into.
- 2. Talk with Matthias. Discuss expectations and whether ACE is the right next step for you.
- 3. Confirm your place. If the fit works, you receive the agreement and appropriate invoice. Payment secures the place.
Applications are reviewed as they arrive until the cohort is full. Admission depends on practical experience, fit, capacity, and the balance of the cohort.
By submitting, you agree that Matthias may contact you about ACE. No spam.