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.
Human Software 271 - Drawing Inspiration from History
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Over the last week, I drew a map of Kent reimagined as if the 1286/7 floods hadn't happened. According to the history books, those large storms and tidal events significantly changed the coastline of eastern England. The former Wantsum Channel became blocked with alluvial mud and sand, turning the once important seaport of Sandwich into a landlocked town too far away from the sea to accept large boats. Further afield Dunwich in Suffolk suffered a similar fate: In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was the capital of the Kingdom of the East Angles, but the harbour and most of the town have since disappeared due to coastal erosion. At its height it was an international port similar in size to 14th-century London. Its decline began in 1286 when a storm surge hit the East Anglian coast, followed by two great storms in February and December of 1287, until it eventually shrank to the village it is today. Dunwich is possibly connected with the lost Anglo-Saxon placename Dommoc. The name means dune -wich town, in old english. If these storms could cause such a huge amount of coastal erosion, one can only imagine what it must have been like for local residents living on the coast during these times. Read more about the South England Flood of 1287 on wiki. My map imagines Sandwich thriving and becoming Sandport, split across the Wantsum Channel. Here's the WIP version of fictional Sandport and the Wantsum Channel in virtual present day. You can read more about the process of creating the map below. Why is this important to the story of Beth and Chrissie in Human Software? You'll find out more when you get to read the book. Fast flowing water and a ready source of power are both crucial elements to the support of data centres.. You might be interested to know, that while I wait for feedback on the latest edits of my manuscript, I'm also working on a screenplay for the book. Watch this space for further updates. Until next time! Reinventing Kent: Drawing a Map of SandportPublished on May 8, 2025 Human Software is set in the fictional town of Sandport. I wanted to imagine a world where great storm of 1287 hadn’t had the same effect on the coastline as it truly did. In the real world, Sandwich, a previously large and influential port, became effectively landlocked. It’s power robbed. In Human Software, I imagine… Read More »Reinventing Kent: Drawing a Map of Sandport
What is Human Software really about?Published on May 2, 2025 Over the last month, I’ve been completing structural edits and honing the message that I want to get across with my debut novel, Human Software. I’ve also been exploring the world in which the main characters live and I started writing Human Software because I wanted to write a story that followed the lives of… Read More »What is Human Software really about?
How to Survive DevOpsPublished on April 30, 2025 You know what I did the other day? No, how could you. I’ll tell you. I sat through a meeting where we discussed how we organise our code and our release process to deploy changes to a Kubernetes cluster. I smiled. Why did I smile? What did this say to me? It told me that… Read More »How to Survive DevOps
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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.
Three years ago, I started a podcast without much idea of its future. Before that, I'd started writing, wandering through automation, programming techniques, infrastructure, DevOps, and thoughts about management, leadership, and how companies are organised. Where was I going? While I'd read a few books, it was clear that I was searching for something. Was I just talking for the sake of it? It sometimes certainly seemed that way. And then, about eighteen months ago, I started writing a novel....
Happy Sunday and Happy International Women's Day for yesterday. All socially or culturally significant milestones are accompanied by an excruciating number of tone-deaf, tokenistic LinkedIn engagement attempts and yesterday was certainly no exception. LinkedIn is a strange place indeed but it's my primary social engagement platform. Because I take what I think is fair to say an organisationally cynical but deeply humanistic view of life in tech, I find it fascinating to see the (lack of)...
We can all finally breathe a sigh of relief that January is behind us and February moves on apace. Our northern hemisphere days get longer, and before you know it, let's hope we'll be stretching out in the sunshine and enjoying the fruits of our winter's work. I'm making the most of the dark months by keeping my head down and writing. Amsterdam with Moon and Venus, January 2025 Human Software is now in development edit. What does that mean? As a self-published author, I'm working with an...