Matt Roberts

“Matt is a fantastic senior technical manager. I worked closely with Matt as his senior engineer for a jam-packed 2 years at Amazon Web Services. I’ve never worked with anyone so passionate about developing the people around him. Matt brings his relentless enthusiasm for growing people and teams to everything he does, from building sustainable engineering process to technical strategizing. Nothing is ever too much trouble for Matt when it comes to other people. Matt may move on, but at least we’ll have Tuesday’s technical book club thanks to his initiative! I highly recommend Matt’s compelling blend of process, product, and technology to future employers.”

“Matt is a seasoned enterprise software executive who has spent time in the trenches, delivering highly scalable, highly secure solutions as an agile practitioner. He lives to satisfy customer needs with the software he builds and is not afraid of a challenge or taking risks. Matt combines his natural enthusiasm with rational thinking and data to make decisions that propel his teams forward. Matt is also an gifted team-builder who embodies and scales servant-leadership across his organization. He creates a culture where he and his managers focus on team members' growth and development through active coaching, offering them challenging opportunities that play to their strengths, and holds them to the highest standards of execution. I trust Matt to always do the right thing for both the people he works with and the customers he serves. I would happily join his team again in the future. ”

“Matt is a positive "can do" engineering leader with deep expertise in Agile software development. Matt is thorough, customer obsessed and results driven. Unlike most engineering leaders, Matt has a high EQ - great social skills and a high degree of empathy. While much of Matt's career has been as a turnaround engineering executive, he would do equally as well in establishing a new engineering team and I'm convinced that team would achieve unparalleled velocity. ”

“Matt taught me a lot through example on how to lead a team of software engineers. He did a great job following agile practices - the right way! - and setting up a culture of continuous improvement. While other programmers often sneer at daily stand-ups, retrospectives, etc., Matt showed me how they can truly be transformational when done correctly.”

“Matt has many positive traits. He's thoughtful. He listens. He is comfortable with change. He loves making products. He leads by serving. But what sticks in my mind most of all when reviewing my time working with and for Matt is his eternal optimism. When after a org chart shuffle the IT and Ops team started reporting to him, he responded simply with "Okay. Cool. How can I help?" This wasn't a "product" team, but that didn't matter to him. He just wanted to know how he could assist. His screensaver said "The team is not an interruption of my work, but the purpose of it", reminding him and us of where we fit in his worldview. He strongly supported me and worked to make things better while also getting things done. He was often able to cut through pre-existing assumptions and bring fresh eyes to problems. His personality was a breath of fresh air. I truly miss working with and for him. He's on my list of all-time best managers I've had.”

“Matt is a positive and engaging development leader with the ability to manage change and align development, operations, and IT teams to create value. He was able to navigate a complex and innovative environment and coordinate multiple activities quickly and professionally. He was able to adjust roles as the needs of the business changed with a positive attitude that lifted the team members around him. I highly recommend Matt.”

“While working with Matt at Continuum Analytics, I have been very impressed with his knowledge of and passion for good software methodologies, including Agile and Lean techniques. His experience in the industry and his vision for improvement have been shining examples for the company. While working closely with many varied and complex interests within the company, he has inspired and led the way to more focus and better coordination at a time when they were much needed, and the quality and reliability of the company's software is visibly better for it. In an environment of very rapid growth and very rapid change of all kinds, he has shown how to chart the right course. Working with Matt is a great opportunity for any software company.”

“I reported directly to Matt Roberts as VP of Product Engineering for over half a year, and I’ve never met a more caring vice president. Matt brought Agile business processes to our company, helped chart the product roadmap and hired the people and firms we needed to grow rapidly and ensure our success. Here is an example of how Matt operates: his screen saver says “Employees are not an interruption of my work, they are the purpose of my work” and he means that. His focus and every effort is squarely on the team, products, and processes and he continues to build in supporting this mission. ”

“I can say, without hesitation, Matt is an excellent team leader. As the VP of Engineering and Product, he worked tirelessly to ensure his employees had what they needed to succeed. He continually was a voice for his employees, while simultaneously kept the goals of the company in sight. Though the leadership that Matt provided, he was able to help align his team to accomplish a great deal in his time as VP of Engineering. I'd recommend Matt wholeheartedly as a manager that can produce results, increased productivity, and achieve goals, while simultaneously ensuring his employees remain happy and successful.”

“Matt's positivity made a huge impact at Socialware while I worked with him. He is able to bring out the positives even in negative situations and this led other team members to be more productive and excited about being at work. Matt's passion for a workplace culture is something I really admired about working for him. He puts a lot of energy into making sure his employees continually focused on professional development and made intentional efforts to ensure everyone moved forward while supporting them along the way. Matt's skillset and experience in the tech industry would make him a valuable leader to any team.”

“I had the pleasure to work with Matt next to a great team. I learned tons of things from him, always helping the team with his enthusiasm and always looking to implant agile methodologies to positively respond to changes. Definitely a good person and a great leader.”

“Nothing great happens without great enthusiasm. And I've never worked with anyone with more genuine enthusiasm than Matt. As a product executive, he embodies the principles of servant leadership. He leads, coaches and communicates with charisma and passion. And an Agile practitioner, there are few in his league. He is a creator and thought-leader in the Agile space, based on years of hard-earned experiences. I am very grateful to Matt for the things I've learned from him while working with his development team and through the programs he lead as President of Agile Austin. So it goes without saying that I highly recommend Matt as a product and development executive. ”

“I’ve had the great good fortune to work with Matt at three companies and with multiple different teams over the last eight years. He is an exceptionally smart and talented software executive who without a doubt has the skill and attitude to lead organizations small or large to success. I joined he and the Socialware team in great part because i wanted to work on a team lead by him again. Why? Because any team that Matt is leading and working on is guaranteed to be striving for quality, customer success, and innovation, as well as development and delivery excellence. He is a master at doing this all through a balanced commitment to company goals and quality of life. I have worked with Matt through any number of challenging business, technical, customer, and organizational situations. They have ranged from successful acquisitions and happy customers, to difficult cuts and staffing decisions, to customer relationship turnarounds. His leadership on introducing, evolving and driving team excellence in Agile software development has brought much success to those situations. Matt is a consummate professional, leader and all around great guy who leads with energy, drive and passion. Matt, it was great to work with you and the team at Socialware and participate in it’s run up to the acquisition by ProofPoint. I very much hope to work with you yet again!”

“I worked for Matt at Socialware. When he joined the team, Socialware was struggling to move product forward. He focused the team on key areas to develop in the software and worked to improve our ability to execute. A year later, there is now customer excitement about what Socialware can do and sales momentum is building – all due to his leadership. He knows how to quickly turn things around.”

“In the time Matt worked as VP Engineering and Product at Socialware, he was able to transform the team from one were interacting with remote teams was the worst idea ever, to one were having distributed teams, across several locations in the world, was nearly as easy as having everyone working in the same room. This was not obviously accomplished over the night, but the way Matt led the team, was one of the key point to accomplish the goal.”

“When Matt joined Socialware he wasted no time in getting to work in a complex environment. He was vigilant on driving alignment/focus with the executive team and keen on our needs to expand the product organization. His philosophies on self organization and Agile experience allowed the team to grow, organize around work and to begin focusing on solving complex problems with a fussy product. Matt was instrumental in our overall success and I feel his leadership capabilities are an asset to any organization that brings him aboard.”

“I had the opportunity and pleasure to work with Matt Roberts when Hyperformix was acquired by CA Technologies. Matt led the Engineering team that was responsible for the Capacity Management product. Matt immediately made an impression as an extremely intelligent individual, who held tremendous respect and admiration from his entire team. In short order, Matt equally impressed his myself and colleagues with his technical acumen, engaging personality and ability to lead. Matt is one of the most passionate and focused individuals I have ever worked with. A true expert on Agile; he fully understands the practice of Agile to its fullest. Matt's experience with Agile was transformative to both CA Technologies adoption of agile, as well as my own personal journey. Any organization lucky enough to employ Matt will be a much stronger organization for it. I would gladly welcome the opportunity to work with Matt again and give him my full recommendation.”

“Matt and I were on the Board together, and it was fantastic working with him. Matt is a great leader - he's thoughtful, compassionate, energized, and congruent. While I know he works very hard at being all those things, he sure makes it look easy when guiding a large organization through ups, downs, and growth. Matt has a deep true sense of both Agile and Austin - his presence make both of them better.”

“Working with Matt for Agile Austin was pretty awesome. As president, Matt brought a ton of energy and motivation to the organization. It's amazing how much the community rallied under Matt's leadership to really fulfill the Agile Austin's mission. During Matt's tenure, the Agile Austin grew the number of programs it offered the community to around two dozen. Special Interest Groups, workshops, and other educational programs thrived under Matt's leadership. It was incredible to be a part of that. It quickly got to the point that the Agile Austin calendar was full almost every day of the month with a program that would help our community of Agilists. Best of all, they were free for one and all. The most incredible attention to detail was paid not only to the logistics for the events, but the strategy for growing them to be self-sustaining and the importance of the content and how it provided value to the community. Matt's passion and enthusiasm just plain could not be missed. It was an honor to work with Matt leading some of those Agile Austin programs. It was an even greater honor to serve as Technology Chair on the Agile Austin executive board during his tenure. Simply put, Matt is just an amazing person and a great leader.”

“Matt is an amazing and inspirational leader that genuinely gives a damn. He's someone I deeply respect. I've never seen someone pour their heart into a community quite like Matt did when we worked together on the Agile Austin board. Matt always listens, reflects on what people say (sometimes for weeks!), and he does everything he can to bring people together around their shared values. At a time when there was a lot of conflict in the community, we made a really great team.”

“I've had the privilege to work with Matt for the last 18 months, as a project manager for teams he’s led in the Austin and Cary offices of CA Technologies. Over that time, Matt stepped up to the challenge of managing all the development teams in the Austin and Cary, NC, offices. He scaled up from managing one team to managing a total of five Engineering product teams, and he did it successfully. I have seen first-hand Matt demonstrate his extraordinary ability to build teams and people and to put infrastructure and practices in place to help teams and people grow and scale. Matt has brought his leadership, enthusiasm, vision, and strategic know-how to bear in building these teams and helping us achieve a higher level of execution and productivity. He effectively shields teams when necessary, provides ongoing opportunities for innovation, and works tirelessly to promote individuals and teams. Matt’s leadership and expertise has lifted all our "boats" here at CA. For me personally, Matt's focus on people has been inspiring and made me a believer in “ouR team.” He has valued my contributions, made my job more fun, and helped me grow and be more effective. I remember the day when I realized how fully he actually lives the precept that "what’s done is done:” he’s able to look out from where he and his teams are today and move ahead without judgment, while benefiting from the lessons of what’s happened. This is something people talk about but I’ve seen few people demonstrate it in the work place. I now appreciate the power of teams moving forward without "baggage." I hope I have the chance to work with Matt again. His ability to translate his regard and care for people into effective practices in the workplace is inspiring. Those, coupled with his leadership and his organizational savvy, are an incredibly effective combination.”

“Matt is simply the best development manager I have worked with. His passion knows no bounds and you need to measure his energy in gigawatts. He knows how both to build and deliver products and he creates an environment that energizes and inspires engineers to deliver excellent product. I you don't have him on your team stop what you are doing and go get him.”

“Matt is a gifted individual. He has deep knowledge across a wide range of management disciplines and computer technologies. He is a people oriented person – genuinely concerned about helping others succeed. He is an effective communicator adept at gaining consensus on what he advocates. During the time I worked for him on a development team at Hyperformix and later at CA Technologies (after the acquisition), he mentored us in using Agile Development Methodology. As President of Agile Austin, he shared with us the development community’s best practices. Matt pushed us to improve product build automation and expand test coverage. He got everyone’s buy-in to reserve part of every sprint to do this work to improve team efficiency. In the end, product owners were pleased because we increased velocity and became more predictable in what we could deliver. Thanks to Matt, we became better developers.”

“I have worked with and for Matt for over 5 years. In that time, Matt has been a motivator for our development team. He has fostered an Agile environment, sharpening out team's focus on Agile values. He has fostered our teams innovative side through sponsered talks and through science faires (think hackathons). He protected the team from lots of unproductive distractions, particularly around our acquisition. He is always open to criticism and actively solicits constructive feedback. He appreciates a good sense of humor. He values people. Matt is the first manager that I have had in my 25+ year career that I would follow to another company.”

“Matt is an exceptionally smart and talented development leader with a lot of horsepower. He transformed our business by introducing Agile, resulting in an efficient, productive and reliable development team. Matt is also an excellent team leader; he has created a cohesive team environment where people love to come to work. The results speak for themselves: timely releases, quality software, a fun environment and 100% retention through an acquisition. I would recommend Matt to any organization seeking a strong leader of development, and look forward to working with him again in the future.”

“If I were going to do a startup I would start by trying to get Matt excited about the idea, and then tell him to find a team and run it. If I was at a company that has just been bought and a bunch of people had been laid off and the remaining people were dejected and the whole thing was at a precarious tipping point where everyone might bail, I would hire Matt and tell him to get it working again. If I were at a massive corporation and I inherited a project that had really great potential but the last person running it had made a complete mess of everything and now a great project was in danger of dying, I would hire Matt and ask him to help fix it. Here's why. Matt will start by learning exactly what the value proposition of the product is. In a very short time he will be talking about it like the company founder or whoever came up with the idea in the first place, because he will understand exactly what it is, how it fits into the business, where it sits in the competitive landscape, etc. Then he will look at the team and the business environment. If the business is not supporting the developers he will give the business holy hell until they do their jobs. If the developers are not supporting the business, same thing. There's no politics, no grandstanding, no petty attempts to grab credit or push blame off or whatever. It's about what will make the whole thing work--if someone on the business side is being an obstacle, he will work to correct it. If a developer is not pulling his weight, it's going to be addressed. Matt is just fundamentally, authentically interested in making the business work, and nothing extraneous to that comes into the equation. Why do I like this so much? Because the good people will see this, recognize it for what it is, and stick around far, far longer. And *that* makes it a better place to work, not to mention making things possible that otherwise would just fail. This gives rise to a virtuous cycle where things get accomplished because people start having a reason to believe that they will. People then tend to want to bring other good people in that they've worked with in the past, etc. Hey Matt, call me, let's start a company :).”

“Matt is an experienced, focused product delivery executive. His passion for quality and customer commitment is exceptional. Matt helped our company get on the right track, particularly with leading and teaching development methodologies, and focusing to make our company successful. Matt is a “catalyst.” His passion for doing things right, energizes team members, builds moral, and naturally causes a cohesive product team who deliver the right product, on time with high quality. His talent is for sure building teams who excel at software delivery. If I ever start a company, I want Matt to head up the development side of the house. He is one of those key company leaders who people enjoy working with and will always remember as being the reason for their success. If you want someone to absolutely knock it out of the park, Matt is your guy. I am fortunate to have worked with Matt and hope to work with him again someday.”

“Matt was one of our Agile Leadership instructors at Austin Community College. He did a great job in teaching the class. He clearly knows the art of Agile Development very well and he is passionate about it. He is also eager to learn new techniques from others. He has great positive energy as well.”

“Matt is the best product development manager I have ever worked with for many reasons. Matt is hyper detail oriented which is critical to keeping large projects on track. Matt understands that a simple "Great Job" along with a pat on the back goes a long way when done in sincere manner. Matt is fantastic in maximizing his teams focus by stopping daily distractions to allow developers to get into the zone more often. Matt does a great job of minimizing superfluous meetings. Matt encourages cross team engagements and helps resolved integration problems early and often. Matt listens for feedback on deadlines and estimates and is quite reasonable when conflicts arise. Matt's has taught me to be a better manager of my team and has helped me be a better person. Matt is also passionate about his projects and company's success which leads to a very high quality product. I would love to work with Matt in the future. I was lucky to have Matt assigned as my manager at Motive. I can say he took on a monster of a project that was mired in confusion and amorphous requirements and drove the project to clarity and prosperity. Matt was inspirational in positive attitude, celebrated team members success at every step and made hard choices when required. Matt made every team member feel special and provided transparency into the project and promoted team ownership at every turn. I try to model my management style after the example I was taught by Matt and I love that he is now a leader the agile movement in Austin. Matt taught me the benefits of agile prior to the agile explosion by driving iterations and inspecting often and adjusting our plan based on real feedback. I would love to work with Matt again in the future and I would give Matt my highest recommendation.”

“Matt has worked for me at two different firms where I was an owner. He was a creative and task driven development manager who always produced a quality product in a timely fashion. Given the opportunity, I wouldn't hesitate to hire Matt again in a similar or more senior capacity. If you are considering hiring Matt and have any questions, I would welcome being contacted directly to discuss his qualifications.”

“Matt is an excellent manager. As much as possible, he empowers his team and then stays out of the way. At the same time he is always available to discuss concerns or provide managerial support when needed. He really walks the walk in terms of working at a sustainable pace: it was rare thing for Matt to ask anyone to work extra, and there was always a good reason for his request. I don't expect managers to all the details of my work, but I do expect them to ask good questions, and Matt has the insight and technical experience to ask the right questions. Matt is also an articulate and effective advocate for Agile development methods. Under his tutelage, I went from knowing zero about Agile to developing a strong preference for Agile. I would welcome the chance to work for or with Matt again.”

“Matt is a great manager. Under his management, product is always released on schedule or ahead of schedule with high quality. He works diligently and stays late with developers whenever needed and makes every effort to remove obstacles for the development team. He lets the team self-organize while manage the team to go in the right direction. He also has a good sensor of humor and fun to work with. I am glad to have worked with him and hope to work with him again in the future.”

“I've enjoyed working for Matt in his role of Director of Research and Development at Hyperformix. Matt is one of the rare individuals who has successfully transitioned from software geek to director. In other words, he is accomplished at directing teams to deliver products, while understanding and responding to the issues and challenges faced by the engineers in the process. After we brought Matt on board, he turbo-charged our product development and delivery with his implementation of Agile and Scrum methodologies. The result was that he led us to multiple on-time releases of multiple high customer-value products, in a sustainable way (no mandatory overtime or weekends). Matt is able to strike a good balance in his management style. He trusts and empowers his teams to work in a self-directed way, but also stays enough in the loop to offer a suggestion or question if he has identified a potential issue of concern. Finally, while Matt takes product development seriously, he does not take himself that seriously, with the result that team members feel relaxed and free to speak with him. I would welcome the opportunity to work for Matt again.”

“Matt is a detail-oriented manager and seems like he always knows where the potential obstacles are and where to get help. He doesn't look over your shoulder but is always there when you need help. One time we were working on a very time-constricted project, he did everything he could to make sure we were in track to hit every mile stone. For example, we ran into difficulties when doing one release and had to work at night and over the weekend. Matt was there all the time and gave suggestions and called for help whenever we needed it. Without him, I don't think we could release the product in time which was a really big deal for the company. Matt also has a sense of humor and is very encouraging which attracted me to work for him at Motive. I'll be more than happy to work for him again.”

“I had the pleasure of having Matt as my development manager for 3+ years, and, in that capacity, I have to say that Matt is one of the best managers I’ve ever worked for. Matt is an extremely dedicated individual, who is always willing to do whatever it takes to make a project successful. Through several releases that were critical for the company, Matt kept the development team operating at its full potential, by acting as coordinator (internally) and mediator (externally), ensuring that any roadblocks were resolved in the shortest possible time, thus enabling the team to produce the best possible deliverables. I once told Matt that I really liked his management style because he manages expectations in a very detailed and organized manner, making sure that everybody understands what is expected of them (both as individuals and as a team), and that all expectations are met, again both internally (between one developer and another) and externally (between the development organization and its customers), allowing everyone involved in the project flexibility in organizing their time, providing task estimates, facilitating engagements when needed, and making sure everyone has all the resources that are needed to get the job done. I would love, and look forward to, working with Matt in the future.”

“In the Spring of 2005, I had a Dev Manager position come open at Motive Communications. For those who have been in Austin for a while, you will remember that in 2005, the IT market was just coming back to life and with that, was still a healthy supply of IT talent available. In competition for this Dev Manager role was approximately nine candidates (four represented by me and five sourced by Motive and other agencies). Three of these candidates, names can't be released, currently head up AV funded startups in either a managerial or directorial capacity and the other six candidates were also well qualified. Of the nine, Matt Roberts was selected. None of the other candidates were even brought to offer. Matt was the only one. And since he joined Motive as the Dev Manager, I've had three seperate endorsements that he is an outstanding Technical Manager. I figured that this was the best way to endorse his capabilities. :-) Regards, Mark Cunningham”

“Matt has been an outstanding asset to the development organization. He removes all the roadblocks and issues associated with delivering world-class software so the developers can focus on creating the best code possible. He learns complex technical products and solutions very quickly and can hold his own when interacting and motivating developers and/or testers. His energy is infectious to the entire team and they in turn work extremely hard for him on his projects. He is excellent at managing the day-to-day issues that come up in a very dynamic software development organization and communicates his status to executives in a very detailed and proactive fashion. It has been a real pleasure to work along side Matt for the past 2 1/2 years and I know that he will do whatever it takes to get the job done and have fun doing it!!”

“Matt has been working with me for over three years now. He is a great employee! Matt has energy and determination to get the job done and is very precise, not only on details but when he leads a team also. I've really enjoyed working with Matt, he is very smart and has a great attitude.”