Ann Arbor, Mich., July 1, 2013 – John W. Stout, founder and President of Stout Systems, was named the Overall Winner of Corp! Magazine’s 2013 Entrepreneurs of Distinction awards. The Michigan-focused business publication honored Mr. Stout, along with 15 other Michigan entrepreneurs, on June 27 at its Premier Awards Breakfast and Symposium held at the VisTaTech Center in Livonia, MI.
In recognizing Mr. Stout as the Overall Winner, Corp! Magazine noted “Sometimes technology isn’t quite enough, even when the company is a software development and staffing company. In the case of Stout Systems, it’s human intelligence that makes the difference and John Stout, the firm’s president, is where that comes into play.”
Mr. Stout attributes his company’s success to an emphasis on intelligent solutions that first address human elements, with technology choices made to serve those elements. As a result, Stout Systems has seen steady growth in its national client base since its incorporation in 1997, even as the business climate challenged companies just to stay alive.
“I am proud to receive this award,” said Mr. Stout. “I must recognize the executives and employees of Stout Systems and acknowledge their significant contributions to our success—they all deserve to be awarded.”
He added, “I also deeply appreciate the work that all Michigan entrepreneurs are doing to help Michigan and its people. They are bringing our state the worldwide recognition it deserves.”
About Stout Systems
Stout Systems is a software development and staffing company that is fueled by the most powerful technology available—Human Intelligence. Stout eliminates the stress, frustration and overwork all too typical to software projects. Stout helps say goodbye to frustration and hello to achieving project targets and technical staffing requirements. Founded in 1997, Stout has offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit, and a national client base. To learn more please visit www.stoutsystems.com.
Ann Arbor, Mich., Nov. 21, 2011 — Stout Systems, a software consulting and Information Technology staffing firm based in Ann Arbor, announced that it has become a Corporate Leaders sponsor of The University Musical Society (UMS). UMS is a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the University of Michigan that contributes to a vibrant cultural community by presenting approximately 60-75 performances and over 100 free educational activities each season. UMS also commissions new work, sponsors artist residencies, and organizes collaborative projects with local, national, and international partners.
Stout has a long history of sponsoring IT industry group, conferences and other events, as well as volunteer participation in organizations such as Automation Alley, but this is the company’s first non-technology sponsorship.
“While science and technology are an essential part of any modern society, music and the arts are important in civilizing a culture and raising its standards to the highest levels,” explained John W. Stout, founder of Stout Systems. “The arts are very much in need now of the support of corporate leaders. Our company is a proud sponsor of The University Musical Society, a premier organization serving that cultural need.”
The sponsorship will permit young students who are normally unable to experience cultural events to attend UMS concerts and presentations.
Stout Systems’ founder explained why that was so important: “Exposure to arts at a young age not only helps build a well-rounded education experience, but helps bring meaning and a humane application to subjects such as math and the sciences.”
About Stout Systems
Stout Systems is a software development and staffing company that is fueled by the most powerful technology available—Human Intelligence. Stout eliminates the stress, frustration and overwork all too typical to software projects. Stout helps say goodbye to frustration and hello to achieving project targets and technical staffing requirements. Founded in 1993, Stout has offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit, and a national client base. To learn more please visit www.stoutsystems.com.
Ann Arbor, Mich., July 5, 2011 – Michigan-based software industry consulting firm Stout Systems announces that one of its senior software developers, Rodney J. Lambert, was 1 of 10 winners of the Android challenge for Google’s contest “Last Call for Google I/O.” The contest is a set of challenges in 10 different Google development categories.
“Obviously we’re very proud of Rod’s accomplishment,” says John W. Stout, founder and president of Stout Systems. “Rod has been with us for three years and has been one of top performers, and it’s no surprise to our technical staff that he won this competition.”
Mr. Lambert successfully completed two rounds of the Android challenge. The first round was a series of questions that developers had 30 minutes to answer. The second round was to create a software application for the Android within 24 hours from scratch.
More information about Google’s I/O 2011 conference is available at www.google.com/events/io/2011/.
More information about the “Last Call for Google I/O” contest is available at sites.google.com/site/lastcallforio2011/.
About Stout Systems
Stout Systems is a software development and staffing company that is fueled by the most powerful technology available—Human Intelligence. Stout eliminates the stress, frustration and overwork all too typical to software projects. Stout helps say goodbye to frustration and hello to achieving project targets and technical staffing requirements. Founded in 1993, Stout has offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit, and a national client base. To learn more please visit www.stoutsystems.com.
Ann Arbor, Mich., February 23, 2011 – Michigan-based software industry consulting firm Stout Systems announces a unique new service for the technology industry. The “Stout Technology Assessment” is a 12-point review of code, database schema, environment, practices and processes for a small to mid-sized company or for a single team within a large company. The service is designed for the non-technical manager (or no-longer-technical manager) or other Information Technology stakeholder overseeing a software development activity. The review provides an outside assessment of how closely any team is adhering to industry best practices.
“The Technology Assessment service evolved from years of consulting for clients of all sizes in a wide variety of industries,” said John W. Stout, founder of Stout Systems. “We found that it is difficult for managers and executives to stay on top of industry best practices. They’re often too busy to have a complete picture of technologies, processes and team functions, and as a result, added time and cost creep into software releases.”
More information about the “Stout Technology Assessment” is available at www.stoutsystems.com/assessment.
This new service is complemented by the release of Stout’s free publication I/T Sanity Check: 12 Questions Top Technical Managers Ask. This publication helps technical managers and executives self-assess their software development activity by ensuring that all of the right questions are asked.
I/T Sanity Check: 12 Questions Top Technical Managers Ask is available online at no cost at www.stoutsystems.com/ITSanityCheck.
About Stout Systems
Stout Systems is a software development and staffing company that is fueled by the most powerful technology available—Human Intelligence. Stout eliminates the stress, frustration and overwork all too typical to software projects. Stout helps say goodbye to frustration and hello to achieving project targets and technical staffing requirements. Founded in 1993, Stout has offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit, and a national client base. To learn more please visit www.stoutsystems.com.
Ann Arbor, Mich., April 21, 2010 – On Tuesday April 20th, software industry thought leader Mary Poppendieck made a trip to Ann Arbor where she led a group of nearly 50 management and technical representatives from local software companies in an interactive seminar. Working on real software business problems, Ms. Poppendieck helped the participants learn and apply techniques to reduce waste from their processes to become so efficient that they can compete with the pricing offered by offshore vendors.
Three-time author, speaker and trainer, Mary Poppendieck has a long, notable career helping companies produce great software. After retiring from 3M in 1998, Ms. Poppendieck started helping software companies around the world adopt the “Lean Patterns” that have been so successfully applied in manufacturing. In 2003, she published her first of three books: Lean Software: An Agile Toolkit. Focusing on the process of developing software, not necessarily on the software code, Ms. Poppendieck gives teams the tools and techniques to analyze, understand and continuously improve delivery. In her third book Leading Lean Software Development (2010), she teaches decision-makers how to continuously improve the ability of their organizations to consistently produce great software.
“We were extremely pleased to be able to have such a distinguished speaker in Ann Arbor,” said John W. Stout, founder of software industry consulting firm Stout Systems. “Mary’s seminar is unique and demonstrates effective techniques for removing waste thereby reducing cost from the software development process. The feedback from the participants was uniformly positive.”
The event was sponsored by Stout Systems in conjunction with the Ann Arbor Chapter of the Association for Women in Computing (AWC-AA). All proceeds from the event went to benefit AWC-AA’s college scholarship program.
“We are thrilled that Mary was able to stop in Ann Arbor for our April program,” said Lisa Luczek, President of AWC-AA. “The program was sold out, and enabled us to raise $500 for our scholarship. It was an opportunity for almost 50 IT professionals to learn about lean software development and have their processes critiqued by Mary. It is an excellent example of the kind of community and professional development that AWC-AA works to create in the IT space.”
About Stout Systems
Stout Systems is a software development and staffing company that is fueled by the most powerful technology available—Human Intelligence. Stout eliminates the stress, frustration and overwork all too typical to software projects. Stout helps say goodbye to frustration and hello to achieving project targets and technical staffing requirements. Founded in 1993, Stout has offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit, and a national client base. To learn more please visit www.stoutsystems.com.
About The Ann Arbor Chapter of the Association for Women in Computing
The Ann Arbor Chapter of the Association for Women in Computing (AWC-AA) is part of a national organization. AWC was founded by fifteen women in Washington, D.C. in 1978, and it is one of the first professional organizations for women in computing. The initial purpose of the group was to establish and encourage communication among women in computing. The scope of the organization has grown to include professional networking, employment assistance, continuing education, and mentoring. To learn more please visit www.awc-aa.org.
