Just after I spoke on the BetterDevClub podcast about Kent Beck being my idol in days of yore, The Pragmatic Engineer published a long interview with him. Naturally, the topic of idolizing people — and our need for heroes and villains — came up.

It is a very honest conversation. I appreciated how openly Kent talked about his long hiatus and depression after the dot-com bubble burst. I also liked the story about TDD being ignored by his fellow Facebook employees, and his effort to understand why, rather than simply blaming them for “not getting it.”

That is the part I want to remember. Whatever idols, tools, and methodologies we worship or loathe today, we are part of the equation too.

It is not only about THEM. It is also about US. We need to keep digging and become more self-aware.