Founder · Technologist · Poet · Greensboro, NC
I'm Lionell Spooner. I run DevHelpers, created the COSIR framework for defining work, and write the haiku behind Nu Haiku. Servers and websites by day; words, rhythm and open trails the rest of the time.
Work
One keeps businesses online. One helps people and AI agents do the right work. One puts poetry where people can wear it.
Founder & principalDevHelpers keeps more than 30 WordPress and Drupal sites running for small businesses, a community college and a hospitality group. The work covers managed hosting, care plans, development, security, cloud and DevOps, and practical AI and automation.
CreatorCOSIR is a framework for handing off work to a colleague, a contractor or an AI agent. A Definition of Work answers five questions: Context, Objective, Suggestions, Instructions and Resources. The author owns the outcome and its limits; the person doing the work owns the approach.
Nu Haiku puts original haiku on shirts, hoodies, hats and postcards: seventeen syllables meant to start a conversation. The shop has been online since 2016.
true desire isgetting just what you wantedand still wanting it
About
I feel fortunate to find joy in my work and in my side projects. I've spent my career as a web developer and systems administrator: keeping servers healthy, building websites, and turning messy problems into systems that run without drama.
DevHelpers grew out of that. Today I lead the company, write the definitions of work that drive every project, and keep pushing it toward automation and AI done responsibly. COSIR came from the same place: after years of handing off work, I wanted a simple, honest way to say what done looks like before anyone starts.
My goal hasn't changed since I first put it on this site: to be a collaborator in the growth of my workplace, my inner circle and my community.
On the shelf Rich Dad Poor Dad · The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People · The Ideal Team Player
Creative
I write haiku, poetry and songs. The work is raw and honest on purpose, and keeps circling back to ambition, relationships and time. Haiku taught me that the hardest part of writing is deciding what to leave out, which turns out to be good advice for building software, too.
I play djembe, and I keep studying music theory, acoustics, vocal training and sampling, because rhythm is where a lot of my ideas start.
“Everybody want to meet the plug, but they can't handle the wattage.”A line that came out of building DevHelpers
people tend to fearthat which they don’t understandrelax, it’s just love
Off the clock
A lifted Jeep on 35s and any trail that looks harder than it should be. Fixing what breaks is half the fun.
Eight wheels around Greensboro whenever the weather cooperates. The best way I know to clear my head.
Hand drums, songwriting and studying how sound works. Rhythm first, words second.
Greensboro, NC
Greensboro is where I live, work and build. DevHelpers is a Greensboro company, and when a client wants to sit down in person, I come to them: their office, a coffee shop, wherever the work is.
Outside of work I volunteer close to home, including serving on a feeding line for neighbors experiencing homelessness. A lot of people in the neighborhood know me from that work before they know anything about websites. Passion overcomes what would normally feel like work, and this is where I feel it most.
Contact
Have a project for DevHelpers, a question about COSIR, an idea for Nu Haiku, or a way to help in Greensboro? Send a note and I'll get back to you.