I first met Kelly on a steamboat where the Web Education (Rocks) Summit was taking place in 2009—where Web Standards Project (WaSP) members working on the InterAct Web Standards Curriculum were participating. Despite not recalling any personal conversations vividly, stamped into my memory is a very, very long night of a debate on HTML5, all of us surrounded by emptying beer bottles on the deck, picking apart a complicated topic. I distinctly remember Kelly’s voice being amongst the strongest in the debate.

Since then, I’ve been fortunate to work with Kelly on a couple of WaSP projects—most recently, on the design, development and planning leading up to the launch of Web Standards Sherpa.

Some people might think that a project manager’s role isn’t “technical”. Having had the opportunity to lead a team of project managers when I was a director of a web design studio, I’ve come to realise what differentiates a great project manager (from a good one) is not only the ability to communicate requirements and constraints between the clients and members of the team—great project managers have a solid grasp of technical side of building for the web. On top of being skilled at managing teams, Kelly also steps smoothly into an information architect’s shoes, balancing the creative and the pragmatic while getting things done according to budget and schedule. Kelly’s role is possibly the most difficult on any project, on any team.

It’s such a rare pleasure to work with someone like Kelly who knows how to create just the right environment for everyone on her team to be able to do their job and do it well. She’s amazing and fun to work with!

I know she’s too busy getting things done to talk much about what she does and achieves—she barely gets time to tweet or blog—that’s why Kelly’s my Ada Lovelace Day heroine this year.

If I were to look back at my long journey as a web professional spanning over a decade and to identify my key influences, the person who truly set me on the path I am on today…is Dey. Young and naive as I was, a relatively fresh Computer Science graduate at the time, fate had me share an office with Dey. Our web department for a major university was made up of a grand total 4 people. Our job was to keep the main web site (and some web services) running and alive. I was the web developer and code-monkey; Dey worked on usability, interface design, liaising with marketing and communications — the stuff we simply used to call “web design”.

At the time, the job of maintaining websites for Faculties and Departments often fell onto the shoulders of administrative staff who had little or no web training. It was Dey’s idea to create free weekly (or was it fortnightly?) lunch time sessions to give free coaching to staff; faculties and departments didn’t quite have money for training. It was the web, right? In 1999, it was hard to understand that the web would be as important as it is today. Then Dey started up a webgrrls chapter at the university, except we had to be “web girls” in order not to be in conflict with the Melbourne chapter. (My memories are fuzzy, I don’t remember the details…. but oh look, the website still exists.)

Dey taught me the beginnings of everything that shaped my work all these years: web standards, accessibility, usability, information architecture and design. Even after I left the university, and even when my job title was technically “web developer” for a long while afterwards, I brought best web practices with me and taught fellow colleagues wherever I went, because Dey showed me that the only way we could create a better web was to cultivate a culture of continuous learning. Dey got me motivated into grassroots movements, mentoring younger girls still finishing up their computing degrees. Dey brought me to Melbourne Web Accessibility Group meetings, which later spurred me to get involved with projects like MACCAWS, and the Web Standards Project, which I still contribute to today after many years of active involvement.

One day, Dey brought her new camera into work to test it out before taking it with her on a trip to India. She showed me a few websites she found on photography shooting tips. Just like that, she simultaneously inspired me to learn photography (today, I still shoot film) and incited an urge to visit India (something I haven’t managed to do yet). Dey taught me how to identify a corked bottle of wine. For some unknown reason, Dey liked to see me on bourbon, and would generously feed me a couple of bourbon and coke after work every now and again. Let’s not underestimate this skill — years later, in professional situations, I still silently thank Dey for the unorthodox training when I can outdrink my client, my boss, or my manager.

I have no idea where I’d be today if it weren’t for Dey and her generosity in imparting what she knows, and for inspiring me to continue doing the same. Thank you, Dey!

There should be a video available at some point, but for now, here’s my own low-fi audio recording and a few slides to go with it.