An honest guide for CEOs, CTOs and Heads of Engineering: what an agile consultant actually does, how it differs from coaching, and how an engagement works when it is built around business results instead of ceremonies.
When a delivery problem is costing real money and internal attempts haven't moved the numbers. Not when someone wants "more agile" — when the business can see one of these:
And the honest counter-case: if delivery is broadly predictable, quality is stable and margins are healthy, you probably don't need a consultant. A good one will tell you that in the first conversation.
The version worth paying for: diagnose the delivery system against a baseline, identify the constraint, redesign workflows around it, and prove the change with numbers — predictability, rework, cycle time, cost to deliver.
The version to avoid: install a framework, rename meetings, measure "adoption", and leave before the outcomes were due. If a proposal talks about ceremonies more than it talks about your numbers, that's the second version.
No baseline, no serious transformation. No guardrails, no safe AI adoption. No measurement, no proof of impact. These are the reasons an engagement can end early — in writing.
Works with individuals and teams over time to build capability. Essential for sustaining change — and the wrong purchase when the problem is the system, not the people.
Diagnoses, designs, implements and measures against a baseline. The right purchase when a delivery problem has a cost you can name.
Most companies with a delivery problem need consulting first — fix the system — and coaching second — sustain it. Buying coaching to fix a system problem is the most common mis-purchase in this market, and it's how "we tried agile and it didn't work" stories usually start. We wrote about why most transformations fail.
Optimum Agile is Auckland-based and remote-first — we work inside your existing rituals, across New Zealand and Australia. Your team invests 2–3 hours per week. No workshops that stop delivery.
| Step | What happens | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Diagnostic | Free 45-minute working session with Nicolás | Your top delivery leaks, AI maturity baseline, written 30-day roadmap in 48h |
| 2 · Pilot Sprint | 4–6 weeks, fixed price agreed before start | One workflow measurably improved against the baseline — or a written recommendation not to scale |
| 3 · Scale | Only if the pilot beat the baseline | Rollout with your internal roles owning the system |
A €7M software consultancy grew to €9M in 12 months while improving profit per delivered hour by 15% — through OKRs, delivery discipline and AI-enabled workflows. Every number we publish has a baseline, a timeframe and a client who approved it.
Rates vary widely with seniority and model — daily rates, retainers, or fixed-price engagements. Our entry point is deliberately risk-free: the Diagnostic is free, and the Pilot Sprint is a fixed price agreed before start, with a written recommendation not to scale if it does not beat the baseline.
Yes — Auckland-based, remote-first, across NZ and Australia, inside your existing rituals. Typically 2–3 hours of your team's time per week.
Yes. They usually sustain the changes after the engagement. If internal capability is already sufficient, the Diagnostic will say so.
Against the baseline established in the Diagnostic: delivery predictability, rework rate, review time, cycle time and cost per delivered unit. If those do not move, the engagement did not work — regardless of how the ceremonies feel.
No. Agile is not the product. AI is not the product. Better delivery economics is the product — agile practice and disciplined AI adoption are means to it.
Nicolás Espinosa — Founder, Optimum Agile. Former Director of Product at PikPok and Senior Delivery Manager at Trade Me; postgraduate specialisation in AI Product Management (Duke University). Based in Auckland, working with software companies across New Zealand and Australia on delivery economics and disciplined AI adoption.
Last updated: July 2026
One free working session. A written 30-day roadmap, yours to keep — including if the answer is "you don't need us". Senior-led, no juniors: the person in the Diagnostic is the person who does the work.