Software People Stories From COBOL to AI with Allen Cooper
Shiv is in conversation with Allen Cooper, President and CEO of Ancilla Ventures. Their focus
is in providing tools to healthcare support staff to improve patient outcomes.
In this conversation, Allen talks about:
- Allen’s Origin Story: Transitioning from accounting to computer science, and entering the consulting world at Anderson Consulting (now Accenture).
- Consulting to Startups: The transition from corporate consulting to entrepreneurship.
- Building Ancilla: How Allen became a partner and eventually the sole proprietor.
- Choosing Healthcare Tech: The path to focusing on healthcare IT solutions.
- Finding Industry Problems: How products like WriteList and VR-90 were born.
- User Adoption Challenges: Strategies for getting hospital staff to engage with software solutions.
- Managing Development Team Motivation: Keeping engineers engaged despite stable enterprise tech.
- Scrum & Agile Benefits: How these methodologies helped balance planned work and incoming client requests.
- AI & Coding: How AI might change development roles, but won't replace programmers entirely.
- Advice for IT Careers: Guidance for both new entrants and mid-career professionals wondering about their next steps.
- Personal Productivity & Balance: Allen’s tips for staying organized, healthy, and grounded while running a company.
Allen Cooper is the Co-Founder and CEO of ReadyList, Inc., a mobile-friendly software that transforms how hospital ancillary and support service teams operate. Allen co-founded ReadyList with a deep passion for helping the behind-the-scenes workers who keep hospitals running smoothly. ReadyList’s software modules guide them through best-practice cleaning and room prep protocols, resulting in cleaner, safer facilities for both patients and staff. Allen believes the right kind of software can save hospital systems money, time, and even lives.