Same People. Same Budget. Five Times the Outcomes.
The book shows you the system. The Accelerator builds it with you: eight live weeks, a small group of managers, and your own team as the case study.
You've Read How It Works. Now Make It Work on Your Team.
Most of what organizations call teams are groups. The org chart says team. The chat channel says team. Inside, work is handed out in a meeting, problems flow up, answers flow down, and the manager directs traffic until the manager is the bottleneck.
The 5X Effect lays out the other kind of system, in the order it has to be built. Reading it is the easy part. Building the Foundation inside a real team, with real people and a real backlog, is where most managers stall. The Accelerator is eight weeks of doing exactly that, with the author and a small group of managers doing it alongside you.
- Diagnose, in the first week, whether you are leading a team or a group, and what is holding it apart
- Install the five Foundation systems one at a time, each one on your own team before the next session
- Replace dependency, confusion, and handoffs with ownership and flow
- Measure the gain with numbers that end the guessing, not with velocity
- Leave with a team that holds its finish line without you in the middle
The talent was never the problem. The system is the multiplier, and in eight weeks you will have built one.
In development
No dates yet. Join the wait list to hear when they open.
What you'll learn
- How to tell a team from a group in thirty seconds, and what to change first
- How to align a team around outcomes instead of activity, from vision to daily action
- How to structure work so people pull it when they are ready and decide at the point of impact
- The decision discipline that turns a backlog into a strategy
- How to move a team from fear to trust, and keep it there under pressure
- How to run the feedback loop that makes improvement continuous instead of occasional
- Which measurements prove the gain and which ones only look like they do
- How to know when the Foundation is solid and what the next four stages ask of you
Who this is for
- Managers and team leads with a team of their own to build this on
- Engineering, product, and delivery leaders whose teams are busy but not fast
- Scrum Masters and agile coaches who have the ceremonies in place and not the performance
- Readers of The 5X Effect who want to build it rather than only agree with it
What you get
- Eight weekly live sessions with the book's author, in a cohort capped at 24
- One Foundation system installed on your own team each week, with the next session built on what happened
- The 5X reader tools, used in the order the cohort uses them
- A cohort of managers working the same problems at the same time
- A Foundation you can measure by the end, and a clear read on which stage comes next
The fine print
Agenda
One live session a week for eight weeks. Each session reads a part of the Foundation, puts it on your team before the next one, and starts from what happened when you did.
Week 1 — The Same People, a Different System
Focus: Introduction and Chapter 1
- The thirty-second diagnosis: is this a team or a group?
- Why the big-consulting machinery was installed and nothing changed
- Pick the team you will build on and take its baseline
Week 2 — From Vision to Daily Action
Focus: Purpose-Driven Alignment, Chapter 2
- Turn the purpose into something the team can act on tomorrow
- Find where the daily work has drifted from it
- Install the alignment system and run it for a week
Week 3 — Structured for Action
Focus: The Team Empowerment System, Chapter 3
- Move from work assigned to work pulled
- Put decisions at the point of impact
- Take yourself out of the traffic
Week 4 — Ending the Chaos
Focus: Outcome-Driven Orientation and Order Over Priority, Chapters 4 and 5
- Replace activity with outcomes the team can hold still
- The decision discipline that turns a backlog into a strategy
- Order the work once and stop re-prioritizing
Week 5 — From Fear to Trust
Focus: The Leadership Excellence System, Chapter 6
- What your team has learned to expect from you
- The leadership habits that build trust and the ones that spend it
- Change one habit this week and see what the team does
Week 6 — The Acceleration Engine
Focus: Feedback and Continuous Improvement, Chapter 7
- Make improvement a loop the team runs, not an event you call
- Shorten the distance between a problem and its fix
- Run the first loop on the team's own biggest friction
Week 7 — Proof Over Promise
Focus: The Measurements That End the Guessing, Chapter 8
- Why velocity is not a productivity metric and never was
- The numbers that show outcomes, throughput, and value
- Compare the team to its Week 1 baseline
Week 8 — Graduation Day
Focus: Knowing When the Foundation Is Solid, Chapters 9 and 14
- The signs that the Foundation holds without you
- What Operationalization, Growth, Optimization, and Mastery each ask next
- Your plan for the next ninety days, written before you leave
Sessions are live and remote. Come with your team's real situation; the cohort works on it, not on a case study.
Each week has reading from the book and one thing to do with your team before the next session.
Training formats
Eight weekly live sessions, remote, in a cohort of no more than 24 managers
Reading from The 5X Effect between sessions, and one Foundation system to install on your team each week
The 5X reader tools, free with the book
Discounted access to future Artisan Agility classes
Risk-free guarantee
Satisfaction is guaranteed. If the Accelerator is not what you expected, tell us within 14 days of the first session and we will refund your seat. No questions asked.
Prerequisites
A team you manage or lead, and the standing to change how it works. The Accelerator builds on your team, so it needs one.
A copy of The 5X Effect. The cohort reads the Foundation chapters in order; buy the book here and the seat is free until Dec 31, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Accelerator really free with the book?
Yes. Buy The 5X Effect from this site before December 31, 2026 and your order includes a seat in a cohort; after checkout you pick which one. Bought the book somewhere else? Register your copy on the book's page and you get the same offer.
What does it cost after that?
A seat is $895. Readers who bought or registered the book after December 31 get 25% off with the code in their email.
When is the next cohort?
Cohorts are listed on this page as they are scheduled. If none is open, join the wait list and you will hear first when one is, before it is announced anywhere else.
How much time does it take each week?
One live session (90 minutes), a chapter or two of reading, and one change to make with your team. The change is the point; the reading and the session exist to make it stick.
I don't manage a team right now. Should I join?
Read the book first. The Accelerator is built around applying each week's system to a team you lead, and without one you would be watching others do it. Join the wait list and come back when you have the team.
Does it cover all five stages?
It builds the first, the Foundation, which is the longest and the one the other four stand on. The final session maps what Operationalization, Growth, Optimization, and Mastery ask of you, so you leave knowing the road and not only the first mile.
Who leads it?
James Schiel, the book's author, a Certified Scrum Trainer who has coached many teams to five times their starting performance. The cohort works through the Foundation the way he builds it with client teams.