Is your software team struggling to achieve its full potential?
Inconsistent delivery, quality issues, inefficient processes, and technical debt might be holding you back from excellence.
Transform your IT leadership and team performance with proven evidence-based coaching.
I’m Santiago Matalonga,
The Software Coach.
I am committed to empowering teams to unlock their productivity.
who are you?
Which challenge sounds like yours?
Two distinct problems. One coach who’s lived both.
“We keep starting initiatives that never land.”
Your team agrees to change. Retrospectives produce action items. Six weeks later, nothing has moved. The ROI of your transformation spend is invisible — to you and to the board.
- Close the gap between insight and implementation
- Make your process investment measurable
- Lead change that actually sticks
“I can see exactly what needs to change — but I can’t get traction.”
You run solid retrospectives. The team surfaces real problems. But improvements don’t survive contact with the organisation. You’re facilitating change without the authority to make it happen.
- Turn retrospective insight into lasting change
- Build influence without needing formal authority
- Get unstuck when the org resists improvement
Your team knows what to fix.
Something stops it from happening.
You’ve invested in retrospectives, Agile training, and process improvements. The team is capable. The intent is genuine. And yet the same problems resurface every quarter — and the board wants to know where the ROI went. The issue isn’t your team. It’s the gap between agreeing to change and actually changing.
Context-first, not framework-first
No methodology is imposed. Santiago starts from your team’s actual situation — your stack, your org structure, your constraints — and builds from there.
20 years of hands-on delivery
From writing production code to leading engineering organisations — the advice is grounded in what actually works under delivery pressure, not just in theory.
Research-backed, not opinion-led
70+ peer-reviewed publications mean recommendations come with evidence, not just experience. You can defend the approach to your board.
What changes after 2–4 hours a week with Santiago:
- Retrospective actions that survive contact with the organisation
- Delivery cycles your stakeholders can rely on
- A measurable return on your process investment
- Technical practices that scale without accruing debt
- A team that improves continuously — without you driving every change
- Leadership confidence backed by evidence, not gut feel
Typical engagements run 2–4 hours per week over approximately two years to consolidate changes and reap returns. The first step is a conversation — no commitment, no pitch.
You can see exactly what needs to change.
The organisation can’t — or won’t.
You run retrospectives that surface real problems. The team trusts you. The action items are solid. But two weeks later the same patterns are back, because the organisation above and around your team hasn’t moved. You have influence without authority — and that gap is exhausting. The work isn’t diagnosing the problem. It’s making change stick in a system that wasn’t designed to change.
He’s been in your seat
Santiago has coached teams from inside organisations — not just as an external consultant. He knows what it feels like to champion change without the authority to mandate it.
Practice over process
No certification programme, no Scrum-by-the-book. The focus is on what your specific team needs to do differently next sprint — not on frameworks you’ve already read.
Research behind the coaching
With 70+ peer-reviewed publications, Santiago can tell you not just what to try, but why it works — and what the evidence says about when it won’t.
What becomes possible after working together:
- Retrospective outcomes that translate into real team behaviour change
- Influence with leadership — without needing a new job title
- Techniques for navigating organisational resistance, not just documenting it
- A team that improves between sprints, not just during retrospectives
- Confidence in your facilitation — even when the room pushes back
- Clarity on which battles to pick — and how to pick them
Whether you’re coaching one team or trying to shift an entire department, the starting point is always the same — understanding your specific context. Let’s talk.
how we work together
Three ways to engage
Each engagement starts with a conversation about your specific context — no fixed methodology, no off-the-shelf programme.
Personalised coaching for leaders
One-to-one coaching for CTOs, Engineering Leaders, and Agile Coaches navigating specific challenges. Typically 2–4 hours per week, over an engagement of around two years.
Learn moreTeam coaching
Hands-on facilitation with your software development team — retrospectives, agile practice implementation, and the organisational work that makes improvement stick sprint to sprint.
Learn moreSpecialised training
Targeted skills development from a catalogue of packaged programmes — or a bespoke on-site training designed around your team’s specific gaps and goals.
See the catalogueI am glad you are still here and willing to know more!
Check out the latest articles in the Software Coach Blog
The Variation You Know vs. The Variation You Don't
Are AI coding assistants reducing variation in your team — or just making it invisible? The evidence cycle is younger than you think.
Read More
No time to change: When Knowing There's a Better Way Isn't Enough
Knowing there’s a better way isn’t enough. What stops teams from changing — even when the cost of staying stuck is obvious?
Read More
The Comfort of a Bad Outcome
Why do teams cling to broken processes? A UCL study explains more about software delivery than you might expect.
Read More
What 'Done' Really Means: The Definition That Changes Everything
A static Definition of Done produces static results. An evolving one creates productive crises that force teams to improve sustainably.
Read More