Exploring the human factors that make software engineering so unique, so difficult, so important and all consuming. Learning to work with the systems, not against them.
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 Engineer
Exploring the human factors that make software engineering so unique, so difficult, so important and all consuming. Learning to work with the systems, not against them.
January is over. The longest month! I managed to get a break in Chamonix, nominally to do some skiing, but for the most part it was marvelling at the beauty of it all. The world around us. So, I'm in the alps taking a break from the uncertainty of the present and facing my own mortality on the gentlest slopes near Mont Blanc. It's wonderful being up there with friends, I feel very lucky, and I also don't feel any real need to push myself like I would have done in the older days. I went out...
A few weeks before Christmas I asked ChatGPT a series of questions along the lines of "ok, so what next?" I was out of ideas. I was tired. My freelance contract was coming to an end so I was already looking for a new one. Launching Human Software had been exhilarating but exhausting. I'd burned the candle at both ends on social media plus done some podcasts (a few of which are yet to see the light of day) and also put myself in front of bookshops and chased reviews and talked talked talked...
REBRAND ALERT!! So it's been a while since I renamed this newsletter but I feel it's due a slight sidestep following the launch of my book. So welcome to episode 286 overall, but episode #1 of The Human Engineer. Despite me constantly rename this newsletter, over these years the subject has never really varied too much. I talk about software systems and how they relate to human systems. I find my work increasingly focusses on the human side of the this divide - because it is a divide right?...