More About Our Founder

Byron Spires was interested in technology from a very early age. His father saw the spark and nourished it, giving him a broken solid state transistor radio to disassemble. He saw the "towers and streets" on the circuit board inside and was fascinated. He found and fixed a loose power connection which brought the radio back to life.  This was his introduction to the wonderful world of electronics and was forever hooked.

Electronics was a family affair it seemed, and he watched his older cousin disassemble and repair stereos using tiny tools and a soldering iron.  He soon discovered the paradise of an electronics store called “Radio Shack” which became his second home. He would spend countless hours there dreaming of his next purchases. Young Byron mowed neighbors lawns to earn money to buy how-to books, electronics experimenter kits and all kinds of electronic parts and tools for his projects.  The family influences didn't stop with his cousin. His older brother brought home a FORTRAN textbook one day and Byron had a new obsession that he readily picked up on.  He dove into computer programming, thrilled by the algorithms, variables, logical operators and language structures. 

Between electronics and software, Byron was electrified with the most fascinating and fun  puzzles he ever saw! Byron's thirst to know more was insatiable. Selected for his elementary school's Talented and Gifted program, he dove into their PASCAL programming lessons.  Then through follow-on classes in BASIC at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, he connected the dots between electronics, binary encoding and high level computer languages.  After being selected into to the nation's finest technical high school, Benson Polytechnic, Byron majored in Electronics.  He then attended the Oregon Institute of Technology majoring in Electronics Engineering. Later, he went on to study Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University, graduating with a degree in Social Science.  As an undergraduate, he spent several summers as an Electrical Engineering Intern for the US Department of Energy.  Although the connections seemed odd, they were a perfect formulation for developing the insightful professional that he is today. 

Byron's technological acumen blended perfectly with social science as Byron spent many years in the software industry. He became a sought after expert in Quality Assurance and test automation where he learned the ins and outs and working dynamics of software teams.  Employers began to appreciate Byron's unique set of skills - he was one of few highly skilled technicians who could also see how team dynamics affected the quality and quantity of an organization's output.  He learned how to bring people together to create and sustain successful project teams and organizations. He had been brought on as QA Manager for Several Process Improvement Initiatives where he built high performing development teams and outstanding software products.  As a top level Scrum Master, Byron understands that proper implementation of Agile with Scrum, requires a mindset shift from those involved away from the traditional ways of developing software.  Byron Spires is now a powerhouse in Software Consulting, he has several Scrum certifications, and continues to improve his understanding and skillset of product development to help software development organizations optimize teams and produce outstanding software efficiently and sustainably.

Byron remains a mission-driven leader, a software engineer and deep thinker whose “get it done” attitude produces high quality software and teams people love to be a part of.  Organizational leaders know him as an understanding and compassionate leader willing to take on big tasks, producing quality results on time and on budget.  He has access to every skill a software leader needs, soft skills for the people, technical skills for the product, organizational skills for the mission, determination and grit for the difficult times.  Now a Certified Scrum Product Owner, Certified Scrum Master, Advanced Certified Scrum Master and a Certified Scrum Professional, he can place teams, projects and organizations in alignment with a singular goal and cultivate the proper mindset for success.  After years of seeing how products and teams thrive, Byron remains forever a Scrum proponent, sharing its benefits as far as anyone will hear. 

Byron is the father of four daughters and counts Portland, Oregon as home. He is always willing do his part to help make software excellent.  His hobbies include history, deep critical analysis, and outdoor activities like hunting, fishing and boating.