As the CIO of US West’s large IT organization, I enjoyed having many excellent IT leaders as part of the team.  But Sherman always stood out as one of the most innovative and impactful.  Time after time he introduced innovations that changed the way the company did business.  Older IT leaders sometimes looked down on his efforts, grumbling that they were just “alpha” designs. But Sherman was, in fact, just ahead of them, since his way is the way much software is developed today.  Most of the groups in IT had specific projects, with specific targets and outcomes.  But I quickly learned that it was best to just fund Sherman’s “skunk works” and stay out of the way.  He drew around himself folks with curious minds like his and the results were things that people previously couldn’t envision.  I can’t imagine how much fun he would have in today’s world with so many more IT toys to play with.

Sherman–we will miss you.  – Dave Laube