Goodbye Martin

It was with great sadness that I heard Martin passed away last night. My thoughts are with Lucy and his family.

Martin and I were part of the LASCOT set. A group of Agile types that were drawn to each other once a year in Edinburgh. We did not agree on everything but we did have fun together. At every conference Martin and I would steal a quarter hour to exchange notes and plot the Agilification of some company or other. Our plans were fanciful, hare brained and never came to fruition. The thing I loved most about Martin were his earnestness and his subtle sense of humour. Either are great but Martin combined them with a subtlety that I think quite a few missed.

In May 2015, Martin and Lucy organised the inaugural SAFE Leadership Retreat in Crieff. An event that would become an annual “must attend” for the SAFE community. Martin invited me as the ‘invited trouble maker’. Also present at the retreat was the spirit of another trouble maker. Lucy, Chris (McDermott) and I would snigger in the corner that the SAFE people were unaware of the significance of different colour shirts, especially those “responsible for imposing cult discipline” who were wearing black.

I will not miss Martin because of his endless enthuiasm for SAFE. I will not miss Martin for his subtle humour. I will miss him because he was my friend.

Goodbye Martin, you will be missed.

Photo: Martin at the SAFE leadership retreat. Note the lack of shoes.