Mike Cohn
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| Mike Cohn | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mike Cohn |
| Occupation | Software developer, author, speaker, consultant |
| Nationality | American |
Mike Cohn
Mike Cohn is an American software developer, author, and consultant known for his work in Agile software development and Scrum practices. He has influenced practitioners through books, training, and speaking at conferences associated with Agile Alliance, Scrum Alliance, Scaled Agile, Inc., and technology firms such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. Cohn's work connects communities around Lean software development, Extreme Programming, Kanban, and product management in organizations including ThoughtWorks, Atlassian, IBM, and Accenture.
Early life and education
Cohn grew up in the United States with formative influences from regional tech hubs like Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Boston. He studied computer-related disciplines that intersect with software development practices pursued at institutions comparable to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and Carnegie Mellon University. Early exposure to programming methods associated with figures such as Kent Beck, Ward Cunningham, Martin Fowler, Ron Jeffries, and Jim Highsmith shaped his approach to iterative development. His education and early career connected him to conferences like OOPSLA, XP Conference, Agile2001, and communities around IEEE and ACM.
Career
Cohn founded a consulting firm focused on Agile coaching that worked with enterprises similar to HP, Cisco Systems, Oracle Corporation, Salesforce, and SAP SE. He provided training and certification aligned with organizations such as Scrum.org, Project Management Institute, and ICAgile. His coaching engagements spanned sectors including finance firms like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America, technology companies like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and public institutions comparable to NASA and United States Department of Defense. Cohn collaborated with Agile practitioners including Mike Beedle, Alistair Cockburn, Jeff Sutherland, Ken Schwaber, and Lyssa Adkins. He contributed to tools and practices used in teams employing Jira (software), Confluence, Trello, and Pivotal Tracker. His firm produced training materials and courses used by organizations such as CISCO, EMC Corporation, Capgemini, Deloitte, and PwC.
Contributions to Agile and Scrum
Cohn popularized practical techniques for backlog management, estimation, and user stories that connect to concepts from User Story Mapping advocates like Jeff Patton and estimation techniques associated with Planning Poker and proponents such as James Grenning. He advanced metrics and forecasting approaches that relate to velocity (software development), burn down chart, and cumulative flow diagram practices used by teams adopting Scrum and Kanban. His coaching emphasized cross-functional teams influenced by Spotify model discussions and scaling patterns in frameworks like Large-Scale Scrum, SAFe, and LeSS. He engaged with product-focused leaders in companies modeled by Apple Inc., Netflix, and Airbnb to refine prioritization techniques that echo work by Marty Cagan and Roman Pichler. Cohn's contributions intersect with quality practices from Test-Driven Development pioneers and automation approaches used in Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery pipelines influenced by Jenkins, Travis CI, and CircleCI.
Publications and speaking
Cohn authored books and articles that are referenced alongside works by Kent Beck, Martin Fowler, Alistair Cockburn, Ron Jeffries, and Mary Poppendieck. He presented keynote and workshop sessions at events such as Agile Conference, Lean Startup Conference, Velocity Conference, GOTO Conference, and regional meetups supported by Meetup (organization). His writings cover user stories, estimation, and Agile planning, cited in curricula by institutions like University of California, Berkeley, Harvard Extension School, and Stanford Continuing Studies. He participated in panel discussions with practitioners from Red Hat, Canonical (company), Etsy, Shopify, and Zalando and contributed to podcasts produced by networks like InfoQ, IEEE Software, and The Agile Wire.
Awards and recognition
Cohn's work has been acknowledged by communities such as Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance and referenced in industry rankings compiled by outlets like Forbes, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired (magazine). He received recognition on lists of influential voices in software development alongside leaders such as Joel Spolsky, Linus Torvalds, Brendan Eich, Guido van Rossum, and Bjarne Stroustrup. His training and tools have been adopted by enterprises honored at industry awards including CIO 100 Awards and recognitions from Gartner and Forrester Research.