I've spent the last two months (a short trip to Iceland aside) working on the next set of edits for HUMAN SOFTWARE. In all honesty, I thought I'd just be doing a little bit of light word work when it came to this round but as it transpired, I ended up changing about a third of the content. A few chapters were discarded, and numerous rewrites were made in the name of pacing and tension building. What I hope we've ended up with is a more intriguing and interesting journey for Beth and Chrissie through the machinations of Gerbach's empire. So, with that, I sent the book to my editor, and now I'm taking another break for a couple of weeks. ANOTHER BREAK, you might say? Well, yes. I need to recharge the creative batteries in a more meaningful manner plus in addition to writing I also have a day job so sometimes you need to get out of the office. Iceland was incredible, beautiful and challenging in many ways, but I wouldn't call it a relaxing break. There is too much to go wrong on Icelandic roads! Due to the additional rewrites, unfortunately this means that it will not be published in July as I originally planned; however, it will appear soon in September. Promise. Also, good to announce that HUMAN SOFTWARE now has an official subtitle: "LIFE AND DEATH IN CORPORATE IT" I am committed to the Shitty First Novel as I'm dubbing it. HUMAN SOFTWARE won't be perfect, but it might give you an insight into what it's like to work in IT in 2025. I'm also hoping that perhaps it'll make you think a little more critically and a little more hopefully about how we can change it. Or perhaps it won't. I guess we'll all have to wait until September to find out. One last thing, please do me a favour and tell me how much you'd be willing to pay for the e-book when it comes out by filling your details here: https://leanpub.com/humansoftware/ HUMAN SOFTWARE will be available in e-reader and PDF initially and later in the year I'm planning on having the print version available via Amazon KDP. Thank you and have a great Sunday! |
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.
Working in software you get to see some pretty stupid stuff. And I mean crazy, stupid stuff. Decisions that float down from on high from multiple disparate spheres of influence - sales teams, other business units or just vice-presidents with a Great New Idea[tm] or a pet project. The narrative goes a little like this - the important people get to make choices and us techies have to live with consequences them. Sometimes these decisions are on a whim, an industry hype, a desperate attempt to...
If you happen to be in London next week then I'll be having a little launch party on Wednesday October 15th. It's not just any pub as well, it's the pub that I used to go to when I was working in my first job in software development thirty years ago in 1995. The famous "Wheatsheaf" just off Oxford Street in London. This was the pub where many conversations got technical and many times got heated. I feel that Peter and Dominic would approve of the location. If you're in the area, please drop...
When I first started working in software, I discovered that were some battles you could win and some you couldn't. There were some decisions that no matter how logically you argued against you them, would occur anyway because that's just the way it is. Some people think this is a naive way of being; arguing against the status quo. I believe it's hopeful and humanistic to question our environment. Naivety in the form of hope lasts throughout life. I believe ultimately that people want to do...