I met Michael as a relative youngster while working on XML-related standards and experimenting with overlapping markup in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was so erudite, warm, open and funny, an amazing collaborator and role model.

Michael taught me the power of asking questions, particularly obvious ones, and particularly when you are in a room where your voice is respected. I observed him do this many times, and the impact it had. It gave opportunities for people to explain their thoughts better; it created safety and enabled generative work to happen; and the humility of saying "I don't understand" made him even more respected, not less. Watching him taught me how to be the kind of leader, and person, I wanted to be.

He was a giant.