The Big Reveal

Bye-bye Alan, it was nice knowing you. You were mission critical for a while and you did your job well. But the job's basically done. So, life being dynamic as it is, the Man Behind The Curtain here has decided to pull that curtain back, that curtain with Alan's name on it.

So hello, world, my name's Rob. Your humble correspondent here at Scrum Central. Rob is no longer content to juggle a pseudonym and his real name. Did you ever try training yourself to respond as automatically to a name you know is fake as you do to your own real one? Doesn't work very well. With my unfortunately lingering sense of ethics, it also has a tinge of dishonesty, and I've grown tired of that. Not the ethics (although as a lawyer, they are a handicap in other ways too, imagine trying to make a profit as an honest lawyer).

Some of you already know my real name so now you can use it freely. Some of you know me only as Alan, so now you know the real me and can ditch the Alan bit. I know major platform shifts take time to implement (that's the tech wonk talking) so I'll still respond to Alan for a little while, I suppose. But eventually Alan will go the way of the dodo, the Edsel, the Clinton Health Care Plan.

In one sense, this is just a change of labels, like some supermarket product with bright packaging that hypes "New Look!" when inside you've got the same old overpriced crap but you're paying more for the extra box decorations. Don't worry, I'm not going to start charging admission here.

In another sense, though, this is emblematic of another step on the path. A year and a half ago I couldn't even admit to myself who I was. I still remember how my hands were literally shaking as I typed the first furtive e-mail to another MoHo blogger, I was still so afraid of actually telling someone else about myself. So when I started blogging, I created Alan as a mask behind which to hide as I worked out a lot of the issues and the struggles that Evergreen types seem to love to wallow in. Well, I'm past all that now. Babies grow up, and this one has rocketed out of the closet and no longer needs the online Halloween costume. On this 10th anniversary of the day that Stuart Matis left us while expressing hope that those who followed him would not fear to speak out, I thought it would be appropriate to fulfill his wish.

So hello world, my name is Rob.

P.S. This morning I attended the memorial for Stuart in Los Altos California. Watch this space for a report, pics, and impressions of the event and the issues it presents.