Software systems rule our world. My regular newsletter explores the human factors that make software engineering so unique, so difficult, so important and all consuming.
The Human DevOps - Sunday 10th November - Being Human
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The period after the summer holiday is always a busy one. What have you been up to? A lot of what has been on my mind is my mind. And not only my mind but the minds of those around me. There is an increasing neurodivergent component in my family, so for me, it's been really hard to think or read or write about anything else! Against this backdrop, I've been back to working as a DevOps engineer, writing Terraform, Python and Ansible and having design discussions. While I still enjoy it, I sometimes wish for more exciting work. The people I work with are great, making it bearable for the moment but there is still uncertainty in our futures. There is still a lot of uncertainty in the software world. Layoffs continue. I count myself lucky. It's better to have a job than not one, especially at this time of year. I've also been continuing to work on my novel, Human Software. It's also a blog now where I write about the writing process and track its development. With this focus on writing, on the self, family and the team, I find the actual creation of software itself increasingly unimportant. Consequently, I'm reconsidering this newsletter, my blog and what it means to my readers. My focus is exploring the human condition in the current time - in 2024. It's never been about software processes or engineering excellence but I have been writing about "what I know" so I've been expressing myself through that medium. I look back over the last almost three years of this newsletter, and I notice that it's changed a lot as I have changed and learned. I was initially writing about automation and how that helps us. Then, I thought I was writing about software design, DevOps and architecture. Then, I thought it was about the management process and how our organisations are built. But, all along, I was talking about people, about humans. About how we interact. About what we think. About how we grow. About how we love. These are all themes I am exploring in Human Software. So if you want to know what's going on with that - you can also one-click sign up for updates! An update about Human Software is scheduled for this afternoon. Thanks! When I return with the next instalment of this newsletter, I might have dropped the DevOps part from the name ;) Have a great Sunday! Self-Compassion on the Anxiety Boredom ThresholdPublished on November 2, 2024 Alongside my day job I’ve been making a concerted albeit slightly haphazard effort to build a consulting career over the last few years. This means having a blog (hi!), having an increasingly occasional newsletter, starting a podcast, posting on LinkedIn, making connections, reading books, reviewing them and being an enabled and activated member of a… Read More »Self-Compassion on the Anxiety Boredom Threshold
Humans Screw Up. Why Can’t Other Humans Accept This?Published on October 22, 2024 Do you know how many mistakes the average software engineer makes over their career? It’s a lot. In fact, it’s directly proportional to the number of things a software engineer does. The more you do, the more you screw up. That’s how it works. Pretending that somehow we are invincible as software engineers is just… Read More »Humans Screw Up. Why Can’t Other Humans Accept This?
Why I still love LegacyPublished on October 9, 2024 Almost three years ago I started a podcast without really knowing where it was going. The only thing I knew was that it was good to talk about things – to talk out loud about ideas. Because when we give voice to our ideas, they actually become real. They are not just banging around inside… Read More »Why I still love Legacy
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The Human Software
Software systems rule our world. My regular newsletter explores the human factors that make software engineering so unique, so difficult, so important and all consuming.
Special announcement! Human Software: A Life in I.T. the novel is now available on Amazon for pre-order. If you would like to pre-order and have it available immediately on your Kindle on release next Thursday 25th September then you can pre-order here. The first preview copy I received from Amazon The paperback version will be published around the same time, September 26th-27th. Unfortunately Amazon does not allow pre-orders for physical books plus availability online is within a 72 hour...
We're in to the last days of summer here in Amsterdam. This morning, out on the Amstel, there were plenty of joggers, cyclists and rowers taking full advantage of it. And just like them, next week I'll be busy starting the promotion for "Human Software: A Life in I.T." I've had to make a slight change to the publication date due to some extra changes needed on the layout, but I hope you'll agree it'll be worth the wait. I was fortunate enough to receive lovely reviews this week and I'm...
I hope you've had a good summer and are re-energised and looking forward to lowering yourself back into the tepid pool of work for the remainder of the year. Here's a view from a charming street market in Aix-en-Provence. Shortly afterwards, I made it to the Paul Cezanne exhibit at the Museé Granet where I was inspired to think about new ideas for the cover of HUMAN SOFTWARE. Sweltering on a sunny day in Provence The big news is, HUMAN SOFTWARE has a release date! e-pub will be available on...