On Book Authoring (for the first time), part 5
is now on book shelves.
The work isn't over, by any measure. There are updates to maintain. The authors publicize the book at speaking engagements and conferences. In this case, it's not because it's required by anyone (no one's told me I'm required to promote the book anyway...) - I'm proud to be part of the team that authored this work.
I believe we formed a bond while working together. I certainly made new friends - most notably Haidong Ji - whom I enjoyed chatting and swapping emails with during the writing and editing phase.
I was privileged to be employed alongside several of the other authors during the writing: Brian Knight, Douglas Hinson, Jason Gerard, and Mike Murphy. Writing together while working together was a blast! At various times I believe we all took turns serving as coach, mentor, editor, encourager, co-conspirator, comiserator, brother and friend. It was a team effort I will treasure the remainder of my life.
The book has received awesome accolades - both public and private. My couple chapters would not have been possible without lots of help from others - some of whom were not mentioned in the credits section of the book. First and foremost, Jeff Beehler provided support "above and beyond" both any duty and my expectations. Without his help, the chapter about SDLC would not have been possible. Thanks Jeff!
Ashvini Sharma and Donald Farmer provided moral support, encouragement, and unfettered access to the SQL Server Integration Services team.
Kamal Hahti deserves recognition for an inspiring demonstration that motivated me to dig into some of the atypical functionality exposed by SSIS. This proved especially useful while writing the chapter on interfacing with external applications.
:{> Andy