Richard Sheridan
CEO of Menlo Innovations
Pioneer of Agile eXtreme Programming
After only two years in business, Rich Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations became the Forbes "Hire Yourself" cover story for all those choosing entrepreneurship over unemployment. The next year, it was a Wall Street Journal article on the unique office Menlo uses for software design and development. Within six years, Menlo had become one of Inc. 500's fastest growing privately held firms in the US. What make this story truly remarkable is that it occurred against the backdrop of an IT industry that everyone assumed was leaving the US for offshore.
Sheridan's team at Menlo breaks all the rules and, in doing so, produces phenomenal results for its customers. No walls, offices, doors or cubes - one big open room, a la Edison's original invention factory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. In this noisy, fun atmosphere Menlo has produced software for all walks of industry from health care, to scientific equipment, to high-fashion ecommerce, to diesel motor vehicle diagnostics, and many more.
Software developed by Menlo for its clients is designed for everyday people by Menlo's High-tech Anthropologists®, built to last by Menlo's world-class agile software development team, and managed by a set of professional project managers listed among the nation's 50 Most Prolific by the Project Management Institute. Sheridan and Menlo have won numerous awards and honors, and he and his team regularly are invited to present nationally and internationally sharing the secrets of the Menlo Software Factory(tm) with all who wish to learn how to build a Learning Organization that can keep pace with today's advances in software and design.
Session:
Creating a Sustainable IT Culture for Innovation, Design and Quality
PMI PDU Eligible
IT teams often struggle to create compelling, repeatable results for their sponsors. What if there were a process and an environment that could dramatically improve the chances of success for any IT project?
In this highly interactive talk, Sheridan will discuss Menlo's unique approach to software process using a compelling design practice that takes an anthropological approach. He will also give a guided tour of the energized work place created in the spirit of Edison’s Menlo Park “Invention Factory.”
Sheridan will tour the various practices of the Menlo Software Factory(TM) including project management, quality assurance, software development, solution architecture and user experience design.
