Stephen J Mellor is an independent teacher and consultant focussed on methods for the construction of real-time and embedded systems. He is the author of Structured Development for Real-Time Systems (way back in 1985), Object Lifecycles, Executable UML, and MDA Distilled. He is also (perhaps surprisingly) a signatory to the Agile Manifesto. Until recently, he was Chief Scientist of the Embedded Software Division at Mentor Graphics, and founder and some-time president of Project Technology, Inc., before its acquisition. He participates in multiple UML/modeling related activities at the Object Management Group, and was a member of the OMG’s Architecture Board, which is the final technical gateway for all OMG standards. Mr Mellor was the Chairman of the Advisory Board to IEEE Software for ten years and a two-time Guest Editor of the magazine, most recently for an issue on Model-Driven Development. He is also adjunct professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, ACT, Australia.