I cannot think of anyone who had a more profound impact on the development of this book than Scott L. Bain, author of Emergent Design: The Evolutionary Nature of Professional Software Development
Part of the depth of Scott's influence stems from how far back it began. Long ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I had an idea that seemed like it was the right thing to do but I couldn't figure out how to persuade more than one person at a time.
The problem was that I thought I had a software product and Scott helped me see that I actually had an educational product. He got me interested in writing technical materials and in teaching other people how to do things I knew how to do. This was a big leap from making software and expecting people to already know what they should do.
Part of the impact comes from Scott's skills at, and interest in, developing developers. Before the Earth finished cooling, I was a good programmer but not yet a good software developer. Scott's careful, patient, and wise guidance kept me on a path of discovery that put me where I am, today.
It's hard for me to even imagine what I would be like without his guidance, but I'm very much afraid that I would be sitting in some ivory tower hurling proclamations down upon the commoners and cleaving to impractical ideals like everything being hyper-configurable all the time. You can see direct evidence of Scott's influence on my thinking about things like design in my book.
So a special thanks goes out to Scott Bain for his contribution to my book by way of contributing to my character. Thank you.
