Speakers
Robert C. Martin
Robert C. Martin has been a software professional since 1970. In the last 35 years, he has worked in various capacities on literally hundreds of software projects. He has authored "landmark" books on Agile Programming, Extreme Programming, UML, Object-Oriented Programming, and C++ Programming. He has published dozens of articles in various trade journals. Today, He is one of the software industry's leading authorities on Agile software development. Mr. Martin is the founder, CEO, and president of Object Mentor Incorporated.
Ken Auer
Ken Auer has over twenty years of experience in agile software development, being active in the
successful development of object oriented software since 1985. He founded RoleModel Software
in 1997 and began building the first Extreme Programming Software Studio™ based on his vision
of apprentices, skilled journeyman, and software masters working together in an environment of
continuous learning and collaboration to produce adaptable and robust software. Although this is
an incredibly productive environment that has been studied and written about by notables in the
Agile Software Development community, RoleModel often puts its staff at customer’s site to
increase the level of collaboration with its customers, adapting its Agile development approach as
appropriate for the particular circumstances of its client. Although Ken has been instrumental in
building a large number of high quality working software systems over the years, he feels his
biggest accomplishment has been the number of high integrity software developers he has helped
grow.
Ward Cunningham
Ward Cunningham is the Chief Technology Officer of AboutUs.org, a growth company hosting the communities formed by organizations and their constituents. Ward co-founded the consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc., has served as a Director of the Eclipse Foundation, an Architect in Microsoft's Patterns & Practices Group, the Director of R&D at Wyatt Software and as Principle Engineer in the Tektronix Computer Research Laboratory. Ward is well known for his contributions to the developing practice of object-oriented programming, the variation called Extreme Programming, and the communities supported by his WikiWikiWeb. Ward hosts the AgileManifesto.org. He is a founder of the Hillside Group and there created the Pattern Languages of Programs conferences which continue to be held all over the word.
Fred George
Fred George is a consultant with over 40 years experience in the industry including over twenty years doing object programming and a decade doing Agile/XP. He counts at least 60 languages with which he has written code. A veteran of the IBM-Microsoft wars, Fred did early work in computer networking, LAN's, GUI's and objects for IBM. He gave the first Agile/XP experience report at OOPSLA about an embedded system done in Java, and has mentored many clients in use of objects in Java under an XP process. He has shared the stage at JavaOne with Martin Fowler, acting as his foil, and assisted in XP Immersion sessions with Kent Beck, Ron Jeffries, and Robert Martin. IN 2007, he joined an Internet advertising firm, TrafficBroker. He believes in objects, lean processes, fun in programming, and the client's successes. He holds a bachelors degree from N. C. State University in Computer Science, and a masters degree from MIT in the Management of Technology. Oh, and he still writes code!
Jim Weirich
Jim Weirich is the Chief Scientist for EdgeCase LLC, a Rails development firm located in Columbus Ohio. Jim has over twenty-five years of experience in software development. He has worked with real-time data systems for testing jet engines, networking software for information systems, and image processing software for the financial industry. Jim is active in the Ruby community and has contributed to several Ruby projects, including the Rake build system and the RubyGems package software.
Christopher Avery
As the world's leading expert on how personal responsibility works in our minds, (how we both avoid and take responsibility for our lives, work, and relationships), Christopher offers the world’s only “how-to” approach for taking, teaching, and inspiring personal responsibility. This information is changing how people live better lives; how leaders lead; how teams get built; and how teachers, coaches, and parents worldwide teach personal responsibility to their charges.
Best-known for his cutting-edge work to de-mystify and then develop practical team leadership skills for knowledge workers, Christopher Avery, Ph.D., is a popular speaker, author, and international business advisor on corporate and leadership responsibility, teamwork, and change. He wrote the popular book Teamwork Is An Individual Skill for everyone at work who thinks they must put up with bad teams.
Michael Feathers
Michael Feathers is a senior member of Object Mentor team. He provides training, coaching and mentoring services in Agile/XP programming practices, test-driven development, refactoring, object-oriented design, Java, C#, and C++. Michael has over 12 years of experience in developing world-class software solutions. Prior to joining Object Mentor, Michael designed a proprietary programming language and compiler as well as a large multi-platform class library and a framework for instrumentation control. Michael is an active member of the Agile/XP community. As a contribution to this community, he developed and maintains the CPPUnit — an open source C++ port of the JUnit testing framework. He is a member of the ACM and IEEE. He regularly speaks at software conferences around the world and has been the acting chair for the Codefest event at the last three OOPSLA conferences. When Michael isn't engaged with a team, he spends his time investigating new ways of altering design over time in codebases. His key passion is helping teams surmount problems in large legacy code bases and connecting with what makes developing software fun and enriching.
Dave Astels
Dave Astels has been creating software for over a quarter century. He's been thinking about agile approaches to software since before the term was in use. Dave's also been involved in several book projects, on XP, TDD, and RSpec. Dave latest claim to fame was writing the blog post that spawned the RSpec project, and being involved with that project.
Dave has had a varied career, working in various startups, and consulting independently as well as for or with companies like Togethersoft, ThoughtWorks, ObjectMentor, and Obtiva. Several times in his career Dave found himself consulting, coaching, and/or training all the time... more to the point: not coding nearly enough! And those situations always ended poorly. And he always went back to what he loves: writing code to the best of his ability. Dave recently left Google to join Engine Yard so that he could get back to doing what he loves, writing great code in Ruby and working with great people who love to do the same.
If you love to code, there is no reason whatsoever that you can't or shouldn't make a career of it. Resist the pressure to move "up" into management. Pursue your passion. Proudly proclaim that you program, that you code, that you actually make stuff that your customers love to use.
Eat. Sleep. Code.
Cory Foy
Cory Foy is an agile coach and developer living in Bayonet Point, FL. He is currently helping product teams become much more lean in their approaches to building product through the focused use of both craftsmanship and agile practices and principles. Prior to his current role, Cory worked with teams around the globe bringing agile and development best practices to Microsoft customers as a Senior PFE. He has also been involved in several start-up organizations where delivering high value while keeping the code clean is vital. When not spending time with his wife and 2 girls, Cory enjoys working as the global community liaison for the Scrum Alliance, speaking at conferences and user groups, and playing guitar, drums, or whatever he can get his hands on.
Bobby Norton
Over the past 11 years, Bobby has worked around the world for Fortune 100 firms in defense, aerospace, insurance, and finance. He was recently the technical lead of Cruise at ThoughtWorks Studios, but left ThoughtWorks to join DRW Trading in Chicago to combine a passion for trading and software development. He has presented at international software conferences such as Agile 200x and OOPSLA, and maintains a blog called codeculture.
Kevin Taylor
Kevin P. Taylor founded Obtiva in 2005 to realize his vision for an Agile Software Development company that upholds the highest standards for delivering business value to clients while fostering a culture of learning and providing a sustainable work environment. Kevin's current professional interests include applying Agile principles to software development, project management, and business practices. Kevin authored Obtiva's Agile Project Management Curriculum and also shares his knowledge by coaching both development teams and organizations throughout the country.
Kevin is a technologist who is always looking for both breakthroughs and incremental improvements that can redefine how Obtiva and its clients develop software. Kevin has acquired a significant expertise in both test-driven development and Eclipse RCP development and frequently presents at technology conferences such as the Agile Conference, EclipseCon, and EclipseWorld.
Kevin holds a degree in Economics from DePaul University and enjoys living in Wheaton, IL with his family.
Micah Martin
Micah Martin is a Software Craftsman and President of 8th Light, Inc. He is co-author of the book “Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C#” and lead developer of the open source tools FitNesse and Limelight. He has 9 years of experience consulting, training, and developing software focusing on agile development practices.
Carl Erickson
Carl Erickson is the president of Atomic Object. He co-founded Atomic in 2001 after ten years teaching computer science at the university level. Atomic Object provides custom software product development services to companies from tiny startups to huge multinationals. Atomic has grown to a company of 24 people by applying agile practices and a consistent approach to web, desktop, mobile and embedded projects. A focus on software craftsmanship, rather than a particular domain or technology, has resulted in an unusually diverse customer base, consistent growth, and higher-then-average profitability. Carl holds a PhD in computer engineering from Michigan State University and maintains a part-time position as an industrial lecturer at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. In recent years he’s taught a summer course called Software Craftsmanship.
Dave Hoover
Dave Hoover is the Chief Craftsman at Obtiva where he helps lead Obtiva's Software Studio and apprenticeship program. Dave has been developing software since 2000, when he left a career in child and family therapy. In 2002, Dave read Pete McBreen's Software Craftsmanship, which re-framed Dave's understanding of software development and how people become great software developers. Dave has become increasingly passionate about learning and has dedicated several years of his career to thinking, writing, and speaking about apprenticeship. He is co-author of the forthcoming Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman with Adewale Oshineye. Over the last couple years, on most days, you'd find Dave coding Ruby and Rails as the lead developer for Mad Mimi, one of his clients at Obtiva. Like most people, Dave likes to speak about himself in the third person, though his wife and three children find it less than amusing. Dave also enjoys all sorts of endurance sports.
Paul Pagel
Paul Pagel is co-founder and software craftsman at 8th Light. He has been working in the software industry for over 5 very unique years. Paul is among the first formally trained software craftsmen. He spent about 3 and a half years apprenticing under the tutelage of the renowned developers at Object Mentor. Then he helped start a formal software apprenticeship program at 8th Light.
