Mike is a software development mentor and trainer. He teaches various aspects of software development, from estimation and planning, coding, architecture, and design. At American Airlines, he served as the website’s Technical Excellence Agile Coach guiding over twenty teams in development practices as well as delivering training across American Airlines IT. At Xerox, he created and delivered the Design for Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Software Development Program as a part of their lean transformation graduating the first two waves of Black Belt Developers. At Sterling Commerce, he was one of the authors of a patent (now owned by IBM), System and Method for Multi-Level Guided Node and Topology Discovery. Mike believes that the most effective software development practices are primarily governed by Agile values and principles, incorporate Lean thinking, and are at their core iterative and incremental.

Mike has a deep understanding of software development, a passion for technical excellence, and a desire to teach. He authors and delivers classes on software development. His classes range from helping the non-technical understand test-driven development in Java for Non-Programmers to teaching tech leads and architects how to deodorize code smells and transition from upfront-design to more flexible agile/evolutionary design.

Mike speaks at Agile conferences around the United States. His most recent talk was Technical Excellence Doesn’t Just Happen – Igniting a Craftsmanship Culture has been delivered at Southern Fried Agile, Keep Austin Agile, Houston Tech Fest, Dallas Tech Fest, Agile Indy, and Agile Alliance’s 2015 conference.

In his spare time, Mike is an avid gamer enjoying both computer and board games, particularly strategy games.

Mike has a BS in Mathematics, Computer Science, and all but 1 semester of a Physics degree from Purdue University. He currently lives with his family near Dallas, Texas.