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.
The Human DevOps - 30th June 2024 - Release The Pressure
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Do you always want more? More opportunities, more recognition for your work, more advancement? Sometimes, it's just knowing more, solving problems, and being right. What do we do to ourselves as software engineers and programmers that makes us want to do more all the time? We want to know more, write more, read more and perhaps even present more. I was interacting with someone on LinkedIn this Friday, and it made me reflect on what I am doing now compared to what I did a year ago. A year ago, I was preparing a talk for the We Are Developers World Conference in Berlin. I'd been asked to present a talk I'd pitched to them, and I was part excited, part nervous. In the end, it went well—as well as it could have done, I think— but in truth I was simply pleased to get it over with. Despite giving a few talks, I hadn't found that they were getting any easier. Also, I found that I wasn't getting to a point where I wanted to talk about the same subjects again and again every time. My subject was evolving the more I talked about it but I wasn't enjoying the process of presenting these subjects. So, what should I do? I thought having a focus would help. So with the presenting season continuing apace I applied for a few more conferences with the same talk. And suddenly I found myself accepted and potentially travelling to Greece and Manchester and Ghent to give these talks... but immediately I felt a dread. I felt a deep unhappiness. And then I read a post by the great Martin Fowler which changed everything. If he could admit that he didn't like presenting, why should I even pretend I did? Plus I have no services I am selling off the back of my presentations. I am doing it only for the insights that delivering it provides. I have no need to be on a stage to do that. So since earlier this year I've decided to take the pressure off myself to present, and instead I focus on writing. I still meet great people online and at conferences and enjoy debate and discussion, but that's a very different world to presenting. So, if you're struggling with the challenges that your job throws at you, perhaps even including presenting or representing your company at trade events, perhaps you just need to find another way to express your desire to connect more. It doesn't have to be from a stage necessarily. And the best part of We Are Developers 2023? It was that I got to meet John Romero. Have a great Sunday. How to be a Better Software EngineerPublished on June 23, 2024 So much of what we do as programmers, as software engineers, is social. And most of us, are not the most social people. Programming appeals to the quieter ones. The thoughtful ones. The ones who perhaps don’t want to go out and party but are happier instead looking at the code, or searching for some… Read More »How to be a Better Software Engineer
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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.
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...
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....