Kevin Rutherford

Current

Founder at AgileNorth
Owner at Rutherford Software Ltd (Sole Proprietorship)

Past

Test-driven developer and agile/lean coach at Penrillian
Agile coach at Nonlinear Dynamics
Software Development Manager at Motorola

Lead Analyst at Airtours
Software Team Leader at ICL
Founder and Managing Director at Facilita

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3 more...

Education

University of St. Andrews
University of St. Andrews
Ecclesbourne School

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Recommended

6 people have recommended Kevin

Connections

163 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

Kevin Rutherford’s Summary

I am an agile software developer with deep experience in software quality, leadership, project automation and analysis. I am a Chartered Engineer and a Charterd IT Professional, with an extensive track record of on-time delivery.

My principal focus these days is in helping teams to exceed their customers' expectations. I do this not by coaching, but simply by setting an example and mentoring anyone who wishes to improve their practices. In my own practice I rely on agile principles, with strong emphasis on risk management, incremental delivery of tangible results and the creation of habitable, defect-free software.

I contribute regularly to the agile software development community. I founded the UK's AgileNorth group and I'm a member of the programme committee for the British Computer Society’s SPA (Software Practice Advancement) annual conference. I am also a leading speaker on the agile conference circuit, and I have run workshops as an invited speaker at numerous events of the British Computer Society and the Agile Alliance.

My blog (http://silkandspinach.net) is consistently ranked among the world's top 25 agile blogs by Technorati.

To find out more about me and how I can help you, or to join my network, email me: kevin@rutherford-software.com

Kevin Rutherford’s Specialties:

Defect-free Software -- test-driven development, object-oriented design, refactoring, beautiful code

Mentoring -- setting the quality, style and pace of software development projects by example

Project Leadership -- leading the development of defect-free software on time and within budget

Project Rescue -- salvaging working software and workable plans from the wreckage

Project Automation -- integrating toolsets to increase developer throughput

Kevin Rutherford’s Experience

Founder

AgileNorth

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

March 2004 — Present (4 years 8 months)

AgileNorth (http://agilenorth.net) is the community home for agile software development in north-west England. We meet every month in the Manchester area, and hold a conference in September each year.
Owner
Rutherford Software Ltd (Sole Proprietorship)

(Sole Proprietorship; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)

November 2003 — Present (5 years)

Consultancy and mentoring in test-driven software development (TDD). Based in Macclesfield in the heart of the UK.
Test-driven developer and agile/lean coach

Penrillian

(Information Technology and Services industry)

2006 — 2007 (1 year)
Agile coach

Nonlinear Dynamics

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Biotechnology industry)

2005 — 2006 (1 year)
Software Development Manager

Motorola

(Public Company; Computer Software industry)

July 1999 — October 2003 (4 years 4 months)

Motorola "Most Effective" technical performer worldwide in 2001 and 2002
Lead Analyst

Airtours

(Public Company; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

January 1995 — April 1996 (1 year 4 months)
Software Team Leader

ICL

(Public Company; Computer Software industry)

December 1984 — December 1995 (11 years 1 month)

Team leader on a series of projects, including Esprit PCTE and high-security variants of Unix System V.

Winner of ICL Bronze and Silver Excellence Awards for mentoring.
Founder and Managing Director

Facilita

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)

May 1990 — August 1994 (4 years 4 months)

Kevin Rutherford’s Education

University of St. Andrews

PhD, Computational Algebra, 1982 — 1989

Activities and Societies:

(part-time home-based research)
University of St. Andrews

BSc, Pure Mathematics, 1977 — 1981
Ecclesbourne School

1970 — 1977