About

Agilitrix is a boutique coaching, training, and facilitation company based out of Toronto, Canada. Senior principal Michael Sahota works together with a world-class network of regional and international consultants to deliver outstanding results.

Michael Sahota - Senior Principal

“As the senior principal of Agilitrix, my mission is to make a difference in the lives of the people and the companies I work with. Although I am a thought leader, use innovative approaches, and a wide set of tools, my main strength is the energy and passion I bring as a change artist to help my clients realize their goals. Sure the goal is to get better, but we can do that and put a smile on everyone’s face.”

How I Work with Clients

Bio

As Agile/Lean Coach, Consultant and Trainer in Toronto, I work with businesses to accelerate delivery of value.

With software teams, this may include introducing modern software delivery techniques such as Scrum or Kanban. I help Product Managers collaborate with stakeholders and customers to get great results through Innovation Games®.

Operational groups may benefit more from the application of Lean practices such as Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen and Kanban to improve efficiency.

My passion right now is around using play to unleash creativity and achieve breakthrough results. In addition to a variety of games and simulations, I am also trained in StrategicPlay® with Lego® SERIOUS PLAY®.

Testimonials

“In a very short time Michael established focus and aligned the whole team on delivering working software. Michael is true software professional. He brought his vast experience with agile development and implemented those principles. Michael was always happy to share his knowledge, making everyone around him better their jobs. I very much enjoyed working with Michael – highly recommended” – Yehoram Shenhar, Software Team Lead, Destinator Technologies.

See more testimonials about Michael as a coach.

“Active, Thoughtful, Interesting. I liked the topic and pace as well as Michael’s command of the topic.” – Kathy Johanson, Purchasing Operations Manger

See more testimonials about Michael as a trainer.

Qualifications and Designations

2011 Trained in StrategicPlay® for Lego® SERIOUSPLAY®
2010 Certified Scrum Coach – designation achieved through 40 hours of written submission and interviews based on qualifications.
2010 Innovation Games® Facilitator
2007 Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner – Communications/Leadership Training
2004 Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner - Communications/Leadership Training
2004 Certified ScrumMaster
1993 M.Sc., Computer Science, The University of British Columbia
1991 B.A.Sc., Engineering Science, University of Toronto

Training and Conferences

2011 Strategic Play® Lego® Facilitator Training [3.5 days]
2011 Agile Games Boston [3 days]
2011 Play4Agile Germany [3 days]
2010 XP Days Benelux [2 days]
2010 Agile Tour Toronto 2010 [1 day]
2010 Innovation Games® Facilitator Training [2 days]
2010 Agile 2010 Orlando [4 days]
2010 Agile Coach Camp Waterloo [1 day]
2010 DeepAgile – Learning through play [2 days]
2010 Lean Systems and Software Conference Atlanta [3 days]
2010 Agile Coach Camp North Carolina [2 days]
2010 Scrum Gathering USA [3 days]
2009 Agile Tour Toronto 2009 [1 day]
2009 Lean training with Mary Poppendieck [2 days]
2009 Agile 2009 Conference [4 days]
2008 Agile 2008 Conference [4 days]
2005 Scrum Gathering + Workshop [3 days]
2005 XPDay Conference [1 days]

Public Speaking/Sessions

2011 Lean Fundamentals: Understanding Flow Through Games (Agile 2011)
2011 Culture – Why it matters and what you can do to work with it (SoCal Kanban/Lean User Group)
2011 Agile – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (XPToronto User Group)
2011 Agile Coaching Dojo (Agile Games 2011)
2011 Sustaining Agility Game (XPToronto User Group and Agile Games 2011)
2011 Open Space Facilitation (Agile Open Toronto and Play4Agile)
2010 The biggest bang for the buck! Strategies to organize & prioritize your backlog (Agile 2010 & XP Days Benelux)
2010 Look before you leap – Agile readiness assessments done right (Agile 2010)
2010 Open Space Facilitation (Agile Open Toronto)
2010 Non-verbal rapport workshop (Scrum Gathering USA)
2009 A Gentle Introduction to Agile (Agile Tour Toronto)
2009 Agile Executive Briefing (Agile Tour Toronto)
2009 Failed Scrum Adoption – Lessons Learned (Agile/XPToronto User Group)
2006 Use Scrum and XP Together to Avoid XP Risks (Agile/XPToronto User Group)
2005 Stealth Scrum (Agile/XPToronto User Group)

Blog

One of the best ways to learn about me is to poke through blog post using the tag cloud in the right navigation bar. In 2010, I had about 50 posts on Agile Adoption, Coaching, Games, and Organizational Change. In 2011, I was ranked #93 in top 2oo Agile Blogs.