Writer, software engineer, author of Human Software. Thinking about the humans behind the systems.
Human DevOps: Friday 15th March - How to be a Happier Software Engineer
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As a lifelong coder and professional software geek, I've always been interested in the systems we use to build software. Lately, I've realised that these systems are often social — much more so than technical. Consequently, I've connected with the great and the good in the world of what I'm calling "humane software development". For me, this work is spearheaded by the work that Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais have done with Team Topologies. Since the end of last year, I've been an official Team Topologies advocate, and since then I've started working with the core team on bringing the message of Team Topologies to a wider audience. A key part of what makes Team Topologies so useful is the notion that Conway's Law is unavoidable. In other words, we build what our organisation, to some extent, allows us to build. Therefore, we can influence not only what we build but also how we build it by paying close attention to the teams we use to build the software and sensing how much stress they are under. Therefore, part of my work is to understand, at an individual level, how I can improve my team's situation every day. Part of it is through hosting talks such as next week's Amsterdam Fast Flow Meetup. Some of it for me is through writing and connection. Therefore, I've been exploring the social, organizational, and emotional side of building software. What makes us want to build it, and how can we do it together more effectively? When reading about this, it's easy to get very theoretical and as a practical, engineering type, I want solutions. Therefore, this week I wrote "How to be a Happier Software Engineer". This post summarises where I'm going with this newsletter better than anything and hopefully gives you some practical tips on how we can have more fun and get more done at work. If you're interested in how to be a happy software engineer, or how to make those around you happier, or basically looking to get more done and have more fun at work - then stick with me. If not, please click unsubscribe below and you won't hear from me again! Many thanks and have a great weekend. -- Richard How to be a Happier Software EngineerPublished on March 12, 2024 It is incredibly powerful to realise that a single engineer can influence a team’s overall happiness and, by extension, their own happiness. But it can be frustrating sometimes can’t it? Sometimes, people just don’t get it, and sometimes, they don’t get you. Do you remember when you just built stuff? That feeling you get when… Read More »How to be a Happier Software Engineer
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The Human Engineer
Writer, software engineer, author of Human Software. Thinking about the humans behind the systems.
The After (at the back) I finally headed back to work this week. Over the last few months, I've often felt like I was going around in the circles and that, in fact, was quite close to the truth. I first posted on LinkedIn that I was "Open to Work" at the start of November it's taken about six months to land a new gig. Why so long? A few things. I'm older, there's AI, and it is a tough market but at the beginning I certainly had plenty of interest both from the network and from recruiters....
It's amazing how dependent we are on paperwork even in 2026. I spent a few hours this week printing forms, signing them, scanning them, uploading them. Automation has brought us so far ... and yet. I tried to use Claude to help me design some shelves above the washing machine and honestly it was easier just to use my own head. AI is sometimes an exhausting tool to use. One of those forms was for a new job — starting in a couple of weeks. More on that soon. The bigger news: Human Software has...
Conference season hit Amsterdam last month with the global juggernaut that is Kubecon but I eschewed the noise of that particular enormous techie event and went instead to the writer-friendly event "Stories Unfold" at Amsterdam's OBA theatre. This was a very pleasant evening giving a selection of self-published and traditionally published authors a stage to share the stories behind their books and also highlighted a new compilation of short stories. The audience was very much made up of...