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 272 - Impatient, Needy Writers
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Writers are terribly impatient. We are so fragile, we crave attention all the time. So, for us, writing into a vacuum and not getting anything back is the worst. We will happily take anything including "wow, it really sucked" or "how could you be so old and so feeble at writing?" At this point in the journey of Human Software, I'm so desperate for feedback, I'm even willing to pay for it! So that's what I did. In January, I hired an editor, and he's been great. He helped me with the structural edits and encouraged me to crack on with the revisions. Now, as I review the generous beta reader feedback, I've decided to hire him again and get on with the final round of copy editing. And so, all of a sudden, this is the final push, my friends! To celebrate, I just launched the Leanpub landing page here: https://leanpub.com/humansoftware/ Please do me a favour and go there and tell me what you think of it. Is the synopsis clear and interesting? How's the snippet? Useful? Do you want to read more? Any feedback gratefully received! You can simply reply to this email! So a month or so of copy editing to go and by mid to late July I am aiming to have the e-book complete and ready to go. I've hired a cover designer to help me out too. While I quite like my AI generated thing, it's probably just a temporary placeholder. I am committed to using real art and real people to create the cover. Watch this space for more updates and closer to publication date I'll be sharing more about the artwork and the layout and where you can buy it. And if my life wasn't busy enough with the final edits, I'm also turning Human Software into a screenplay. Read more about it below! Until next time, have a great Sunday. Human Software: The ScreenplayPublished on May 15, 2025 I like writing. I’ve enjoyed writing Human Software. However waiting for feedback can be nerve-wracking, so over the last few weeks I decided to channel some of that nervous energy into another endeavour. As I wrapped up my last edits, I discovered a screenwriting course that was just starting the next week, and I enrolled.… Read More »Human Software: The Screenplay
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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.
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,...
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)...