Curtis Cooley

Curtis Cooley

Agile Coach & Trainer

As a trainer, coach and developer for Industrial Logic, Curtis is committed to finding and sharing safer, better and more effective ways to build software. As a coach and trainer of XP/Agile teams, his passion for building better software is contagious. Curtis teaches pair programming, TDD and refactoring to software teams by working with them on their project – the teaching and doing approach, which he has found to be the best way to teach and apply software techniques, strategies and methodologies.

Curtis is a huge fan and proponent of TDD and Refactoring, and endeavors to keep code clean, readable and maintainable. He loves teaching others how to be Agile and Lean, and to write code pairing with other professionals at Industrial Logic on eLearning Albums. And he is very passionate about protecting the meaning of Agile from the watered-down “certificate” it’s becoming.

Curtis holds a degree in computer science from Eastern Washington University. He believes software is better built with a core group of self-organizing, dedicated team. Give him a team of 5-10 developers, he is certain he can tackle any size project for any size company to the delight of customers. Curtis is currently exploring, defining and living anzeneering at Industrial Logic - how safety can be built into any project, team or company.

He lives with his family in the heart of the beautiful Inland Northwest – Spokane, Washington, where they enjoy skiing in the winter and camping in the summer. He enjoys studying and contributing to the Agile community, even beyond work hours, and learns something new everyday.

Curtis has been developing software for over 15 years. He began teaching, mentoring and coaching out of his passion for XP and the desire to share his ideas with fellow programmers. He has a myriad of languages under his belt, including Java, Ruby, Groovy, and UNIX Shell allowing him to tackle most any software project. While working at RADSoft, one of his coworkers noted his ability to gently win over the hearts of skeptics new to Agile software development by setting the example for the team.

Q: What does your work involve?

I get to do two things I love - teach others how to be Agile and Lean, and write code paring with other professionals at Industrial Logic on our eLearning product.

Q: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself - your education, interests, past work experiences.

I graduated from the 2011 National Division One Football Champion Eastern Washington University. I enjoy sports, both playing and watching, video games, and reading science fiction. I've been a developer and coach for about 15 years now, and learn something new everyday.

Q: That is great. Tell us what appeals to you about coaching?

Coaching allows me to combine teaching and doing. I get to educate all levels of the software development hierarchy on how to be lean and I get to sit down with developers and write code with them. I teach pair programming, TDD, and refactoring by doing it with the team on their project. I don't know any better way to teach that sort of thing.

Q: What is a typical day at work like?

Well, when I'm not coaching, I take the long commute from my bedroom to my office and get to work on eLearning and the Industrial Logic product with some of the best developers I know. When I am coaching I facilitate standup meetings, lead code katas, meet with management, and code with developers. I dont' necessarily like doing the same thing all day every day, so it works well for me.

Q: How has Lean changed your practice of Agile?

I started studying lean way back when "Lean Software Development" came out. I immediately turned to books like "The Goal", "The Machine That Changed The World", "Lean Thinking", and "Joe's Garage". I knew there was a connection between Agile and Lean, and as I groked Lean more I went from a practice centered approach to a value centered approach. By that I mean that I learned XP by dogmatically doing all the practices as best I could until I got good enough at them to start to evaluate how they fit into the project I was doing. Lean taught me that there's no recipe for succes, but you must embrace values and principles and build your own process that follows them.

Q: What do you do to relax?

Play sports, watch TV, and read science fiction. I'm also trying to teach myself guitar, but Eddie Van Halen can sleep safe. I'm not stealing his job any time soon.

Q: What does the future hold for you - any exciting plans, developments?

Nothing really. All this lean and agile thinking bleeds over into my daily life. I plan pretty well for tomorrow, but for next year? Not so much. I've tried doing the whole 7 habits goal planning thing, but I guess I'm just too much of a take-life-as-it-comes sort of person.

Experience

Curtis has been developing software for over 15 years. He began teaching, mentoring and coaching out of his passion for XP and the desire to share his ideas with fellow programmers. He has a myriad of languages under his belt, including Java, Ruby, Groovy, and UNIX Shell allowing him to tackle most any software project. While working at RADSoft, one of his coworkers noted his ability to gently win over the hearts of skeptics new to Agile software development by setting the example for the team.

Q&A

Q: What does your work involve?

I get to do two things I love - teach others how to be Agile and Lean, and write code paring with other professionals at Industrial Logic on our eLearning product.

Q: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself - your education, interests, past work experiences.

I graduated from the 2011 National Division One Football Champion Eastern Washington University. I enjoy sports, both playing and watching, video games, and reading science fiction. I've been a developer and coach for about 15 years now, and learn something new everyday.

Q: That is great. Tell us what appeals to you about coaching?

Coaching allows me to combine teaching and doing. I get to educate all levels of the software development hierarchy on how to be lean and I get to sit down with developers and write code with them. I teach pair programming, TDD, and refactoring by doing it with the team on their project. I don't know any better way to teach that sort of thing.

Q: What is a typical day at work like?

Well, when I'm not coaching, I take the long commute from my bedroom to my office and get to work on eLearning and the Industrial Logic product with some of the best developers I know. When I am coaching I facilitate standup meetings, lead code katas, meet with management, and code with developers. I dont' necessarily like doing the same thing all day every day, so it works well for me.

Q: How has Lean changed your practice of Agile?

I started studying lean way back when "Lean Software Development" came out. I immediately turned to books like "The Goal", "The Machine That Changed The World", "Lean Thinking", and "Joe's Garage". I knew there was a connection between Agile and Lean, and as I groked Lean more I went from a practice centered approach to a value centered approach. By that I mean that I learned XP by dogmatically doing all the practices as best I could until I got good enough at them to start to evaluate how they fit into the project I was doing. Lean taught me that there's no recipe for succes, but you must embrace values and principles and build your own process that follows them.

Q: What do you do to relax?

Play sports, watch TV, and read science fiction. I'm also trying to teach myself guitar, but Eddie Van Halen can sleep safe. I'm not stealing his job any time soon.

Q: What does the future hold for you - any exciting plans, developments?

Nothing really. All this lean and agile thinking bleeds over into my daily life. I plan pretty well for tomorrow, but for next year? Not so much. I've tried doing the whole 7 habits goal planning thing, but I guess I'm just too much of a take-life-as-it-comes sort of person.