P2.6. Acknowledgments

This is the only part of the book my non-techy friends will read, so I’d better make it good. My entire life-support system has helped me greatly in this long, drawn-out book process. First, my family, especially my mom Hazel and dad Geary, but also my entire extended family, including my stepmother Sherrie and my stepdad Lloyd. The No Fluff, Just Stuff speakers, attendees, and the organizer Jay Zimmerman have helped me vet this material over many months, and the speakers in particular make the ridiculous amount of travel worthwhile. A special thanks goes to my ThoughtWorks colleagues: a group of people with whom I feel extraordinarily privileged to work. I’ve never before seen a company as committed to revolutionizing the way people write software, with such highly intelligent, passionate, dedicated, selfless people. I attribute at least some of this to the extraordinary Roy Singham, the founder of ThoughtWorks, and upon whom I have a bit of a man-crush, I think. Thanks to all my neighbors (both the non-garage and honorary garage ones), who don’t know or care about any of this technology stuff, especially Kitty Lee, Diane and Jamie Coll, Betty Smith, and all the other current and former Executive Park neighbors (and yes that includes you Margie). Special thanks to my friends that now extend around the globe: Masoud Kamali, Frank Stepan, Sebastian Meyen, and the rest of the S&S crew. And, of course, the guys I see only in other countries, like Michael Li, and, even though they live only five miles away, Terry Dietzler and his wife Stacy, whose schedules far too rarely line up with mine. Thanks (even though they can’t read this) to Isabella, Winston, and Parker, who don’t care about technology but really care about attention (on their terms, of course). A thanks to my friend Chuck, whose increasingly rare visits still manage to lighten my day. And, saving the most important for last, my wonderful wife Candy. All my speaker friends claim that she’s a saint for allowing me to gallivant around the world, speaking about and writing software. She has graciously indulged my all-encompassing career because she knows I love it, but not as much as her. She’s patiently waiting around until I retire or tire of all this, and I can spend all my time with her.

A special thanks goes out to the technical reviewers for this book. Without their hard work and dedication, this book would suffer lots of silly mistakes and confusing explanations. Thanks to Greg Ostravich (who has reviewed every book of mine for the last few years and gotten no recognition, unfortunately), Venkat Subramaniam, David Bock, Nathaniel Schutta, and Matthew McCullough.