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 282 - IT Failures Cost Lives
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The Horizon Post Office Scandal is one of the biggest IT failures in recent times, directly responsible for thirteen of the wrongly accused taking their own lives after prosecutions were brought against them. There is a highly technical deep dive into the findings made by Computer Weekly in this incredible Corecursive podcast episode. It is worth a detailed listen if you want to understand how this could come about and what systemic failings caused it to be covered up for so long. Software systems are not just hard to build, but also tough on the individuals who have to run and maintain them. While many firms are now rolling back "working from home" directives and forcing engineers back into the office, we have to ask ourselves if we want to be an industry where we continue to allow ourselves to be cajoled into funnelling our passions into working long hours supporting flaky, potentially critical systems. If an accounting system like Horizon could misfire so badly and cause such a tragedy, surely any system we work on has the potential to cause loss of life. Should there be a call to slow down the headlong rush towards more and more automation? And now that LLMs and AI can write applications for us, who is responsible when something goes wrong? Would an AI (or the creators of a Large Language Model) ever be taken to court for unintended effects of faulty code? Probably its only a matter of time before we see this type of narrative playing out. I'm just wrapping up a wonderful week in the UK and heading home to Amsterdam. After being at Fast Flow conference, and having a launch event in London on Wednesday, I'm pretty tired but very happy with how things are going with Human Software. If you have read it and would like to leave a review that would really help me out! Here's an Amazon review link that might work for you, or log on to your Amazon account and review the purchase. You can also leave a review on Goodreads. I'm leaving a few signed copies behind at Hope and Lane Coffee Shop in Deal. Get 'em while they are hot. Have a great Sunday! |
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.
Last couple of weeks, I've been rebuilding some Windows base images in order to comply with corporate patching policies. The new images are CIS hardened which means they follows guidelines set out by the Center for Internet Security benchmark. This ultimately means that the images are restricted in what they can do, what they can access, what is installed upon them by default. These security measures work in opposition to the automation we already have in place for our customers. This is the...
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Greg Wilson of Software Carpentry fame knows how to write a headline. His recent talk Cocaine and Conway's Law is a mine of brilliant ideas and books to add to your reading list. They talk invested me immediately through his excoriation of Mark Andreessen's "Techno Optimist Manifesto" as a part of the Peter Thiel/Elon Musk narrative - work harder and longer, fix all problems via tech. Conway's Law, for those who are unfamiliar is the implicit link between social organisation of a company and...