John F. Palmer is a software engineer and co-founder of the atlantic-systems-guild. He co-authored Essential Systems Analysis (1984) with steve-mcmenamin, a book that built directly on DeMarco's structured-analysis-and-system-specification by introducing the distinction between the "essence" of a system (its technology-independent requirements) and its "incarnation" (the physical implementation). DeMarco wrote the foreword.
Palmer was one of the original six principals of the atlantic-systems-guild when it was founded in 1983, alongside DeMarco, timothy-lister, steve-mcmenamin, james-robertson, and suzanne-robertson. The fact that the Guild's founding members included the authors of both Structured Analysis and System Specification and Essential Systems Analysis reflects the intellectual community that had formed around structured methods at yourdon-inc in the late 1970s and early 1980s.