Mountain Goat Software Ends Public Agile, Scrum Classes

WHY IT MATTERS: Mountain Goat Software, a prominent name in Agile training led by founder Mike Cohn, is ceasing its public course offerings. This is a significant change for engineers and managers who have relied on MGS for individual certifications like CSM and skill development. The move, signaled by the title "Your Last Chance to Take a Public Class," indicates a strategic pivot towards a more lucrative private, team-based training model. This has direct implications for both individual career development paths and corporate training budgets, removing a popular option for ad-hoc learning.

WHAT CHANGED: The company is shifting its business model from a mix of public and private courses to exclusively private, in-house workshops. This means individuals can no longer sign up for a scheduled class. Instead, MGS will only engage with organizations to train entire teams at once. The website's content, though lacking a formal press release, heavily promotes the benefits of this private approach, emphasizing shared context and cost-effectiveness for training a whole team. The core customer is changing from the individual practitioner to the corporate engineering manager or L&D department.

WHAT TO WATCH: First, check the Mountain Goat Software website for the final schedule of public classes if you are an individual hoping to get trained by them before the change. Second, engineering leaders must re-evaluate their training strategy. If your department occasionally sends individuals to public courses for certification, you will need to find alternative providers. Third, if you prefer team-wide training, MGS now presents itself as a focused specialist in that area. You should compare their premium, exclusive model against other providers who may still offer more flexible training options.