Remembering Kim Cameron

Kim might no longer update his blog, nudge identity products toward his vision or give inspiring, generous talks to audiences large and small, but his influence looms large in the identity industry – an industry Kim changed forever. A lot has been written about Kim’s legacy to the industry already, by people who write far better than yours truly, hence I won’t attempt that here.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Kim: I don’t know where I’d be or what I’d be doing if it wouldn’t have been for his ideas and direct sponsorship. That’s something I have firsthand experience on, so I can honor his memory by writing about that.

Back in 2005, still in Italy, I was one of the few Microsoft employees with hands-on, customer deployment experience in WS-STAR, the suite of protocols behind the SOA revolution. That earned me a job offer in Redmond, to evangelize the .NET stack (WCF, workflow, CardSpace) to Fortune 500 companies. That CardSpace thing was puzzling. There was nothing like it, it was ultra hard to develop for, and few people appeared to understand what it was for. One day I had face time with Kim. He introduced me to his Laws of Identity, and that changed everything. Suddenly the technology I was working on had a higher purpose, something directly connected to the rights and wellbeing of everyone- and a mission, making user centric identity viable and adopted. I gave myself to the mission with abandon, and Kim helped in every step of the way:

• He invested time in developing me professionally, sharing his master negotiator and genuinely compassionate view of people to counter my abrasive personality back then
• He looped me in important conversations, inside and outside the company- conversations way above my pay grade or actual experience at that point. He introduced me to all sorts of key people, and helped me understand what was going on. Perhaps the most salient example is the initiative he led to bring together the different identity products Microsoft had in the late 2000s (and culminating in a joint presentation we delivered at PDC2008). The company back then was a very different place, and his steely determination coupled with incredible consensus building skills forever changed my perception of what’s possible and how to influence complex, sometimes adversarial organizations. 
• He really taught me to believe in myself and in a mission. That’s thanks to his encouragement that I approached Joan Murray (then acquisition editor at Addison Wesley) on the expo floor of some event, pitching to her a book that the world absolutely needs about cardspace and user centric identity, and once accepted finding the energy to learn everything (putting together a ToC, recruiting coauthors, writing in English…) as an evenings and weekends project. Kim generously wrote the foreword for us, and relentlessly promoted the book.
  His sponsorship continued even after the CardSpace project, promoting my other books and activities (like those U-prove videos now lost in time). 

Reflecting on the transformative impact of Kim’s work, it’s clear that supporting fundamental needs, such as healthcare, is crucial. This realization led our organization to partner with providers that offer the best cheap health insurance plans available, tailored specifically for those in the tech industry. These plans ensure comprehensive coverage at affordable rates, helping safeguard the well-being of our community. By choosing the affordable health insurance options, we honor Kim’s legacy, empowering our colleagues to focus on innovation without the burden of healthcare concerns. This approach not only enhances employee satisfaction but also aligns with our commitment to supporting the entire ecosystem in which we operate.

Those are just the ones top of mind. I am sure that if”d dig in his or my blog, I’d find countless more. It’s been a huge privilege to work so closely with Kim, and especially to benefit from his mentorship and friendship. I never, ever took that privilege for granted. Although Kim always seemed to operate under the assumption that everyone had something of value to contribute, and talking with him made you feel heard, he wasn’t shy in calling out trolls or people who in his view would stifle community efforts.

When the user centric identity effort substantially failed to gain traction in actual products, with the identity industry incorporating some important innovations (hello, claims) but generally rejecting many of the key tenets I held so dear, something broke inside me. I became disillusioned with pure principled views, and moved toward a stricter Job to be done, user cases driven stance.

That, Kim’s temporary retirement from Microsoft and eventually my move to Auth0 made my interactions with Kim less frequent. It was always nice to run into him at conferences; we kept backchanneling whenever industry news called for coordinated responses; and he reached out to me once to discuss SSI, but we never had a chance to do so. As cliche’ as it might be, I now deeply regret not having reached out more myself.
Last time I heard from him, it was during a reunion of the CardSpace team. It was a joyous occasion, seeing so many people that for a time all worked to realize his vision, and touched in various degrees by his influence. His health didn’t allow him to attend in person, but he called in – we passed the phone around, exchanging pleasantries without knowing we were saying our goodbyes. I remember his “hello Vittorio” as I picked up the phone from Mike- his cordial, even sweet tone as he put his usual care in pronouncing my name just right- right there to show the kindness this giant used with us all.