Agile Coach — Systems Analyst for Engineering Teams

I'll help your team make better software, faster.

I work directly with small software, data, and platform teams to fix how they plan sprints, review code, and ship releases — in short, focused engagements built for teams that can't justify a big-consultancy retainer.

60–80%
developer output increase, no added headcount
40%
velocity increase from a streamlined Product–Dev handover
2 sprints
to clear a stalled delivery backlog
Chris Phillips, Agile Coach and Systems Analyst
About

Systems thinking, agile delivery, zero corporate overhead.

I'm an Agile Coach, Systems Analyst and AI Generalist who works directly with engineering leads and founders at small, engineering-led companies — software, data, or platform teams — not through a layer of account managers. I translate messy sprint planning, code review bottlenecks, and release chaos into systems your team can actually run, and I coach the people who have to run them.

No bench of juniors, no lengthy onboarding decks. Just short, focused engagements aimed at the one or two things that are truly slowing your team down.

Certified Scrum Master Business Systems Analysis Process Diagnostics Stakeholder Facilitation

Ready to talk?

A quick, no-pitch read on whether I can help.

Get in touch
Engagement Model

A typical engagement runs four weeks, not four months.

Every business is different — this is the shape most engagements take, adjusted to fit what you actually need.

WEEK 1

Discover

Shadow the team, review how decisions and work flow, and interview the people closest to the friction.

WEEK 2

Diagnose

Turn what I've seen into a clear, prioritised view of what's costing you time — and what's genuinely fine as-is.

WEEKS 3–4

Deliver

Implement the fix alongside your team and coach them through running it, so the change outlasts the engagement.

What I Help With

Four ways I can help.

AC-01

Process & workflow diagnostics

Map how code actually moves from idea to production — not how the org chart says it does — and find where PRs stall, standups drag, or scope creeps in. See signs your team needs a Definition of Ready.

AC-02

Team & delivery coaching

Hands-on coaching for dev teams adopting Scrum or Kanban for the first time, or recovering from a rollout that turned into rigid ceremony.

AC-03

Systems & tooling review

An honest read on whether Jira, Azure DevOps, or whatever you're running fits how your engineers actually work — or is quietly fighting them, sprint after sprint. See Jira vs Azure DevOps for small teams.

AC-04

Roadmap & backlog structuring

Turn a pile of feature requests and bug reports into a backlog your engineers can actually execute against — sized, prioritised, ready to pull into a sprint.

Free Resource

The SME Delivery Framework

Five delivery bottlenecks small software teams hit most often — and the practical fix for each. A quick, no-fluff read, straight to your inbox.

Why This, Not a Big Consultancy

Big consultancy thinking. Small-team timeline.

Large consultancies are built for large budgets — long onboarding, layered teams, and engagements measured in quarters. Most small software teams need something smaller: a direct, short-term engagement with the people who are actually doing the work.

That's what I offer. You work with me, not a rotating team of analysts re-learning how your team ships.

  • Direct access — you work with me, start to finish, not a delegated team, not an agency reselling my time. No middleman markup.
  • £700/day, billed direct — a fraction of what a major consultancy charges for the same calibre of work. See what agile coaches cost in the UK.
  • Fully covered — professional indemnity insured, so you're protected the same way you would be with a big consultancy.
  • Coaching built in, so your team can maintain / run the fix without me once I'm gone.
What Clients Say

Don't just take my word for it.

"Chris helped us fix how we prioritised and defined stories before they reached the team. He worked directly with Product to sharpen requirements and get a proper Definition of Ready in place — sprint planning stopped being a guessing game almost overnight."

Tech Lead, insurance sector

"Our intake pipeline was a free-for-all before Chris got involved. He helped us build proper triage with Product and stakeholders, so the team only picked up work with a clear business case — no more scope creep from requests nobody had actually agreed to."

Project Manager, major insurer

"We were behind schedule and needed to change how we worked, fast. Chris brought in proper Agile practices and got the team sizing work realistically — we hit the deadline on the work that actually mattered."

Project Leader, major insurer

"Chris took the time to actually understand how we worked — and where it was breaking down — before changing anything. He rebuilt our Jira setup around the new process, so for the first time we could actually track and report on what the team was doing."

Team Lead, e-commerce

Let's fix something.

Tell me what's slowing your team down. No pitch, no commitment — just a quick read on whether I can help.

Prefer another way?
Contact me