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Engineering with Empathy

Richard Bown rooftop

I spent thirty years as a software engineer — long enough to feel like master of my own destiny, and long enough to get thoroughly frustrated that things never turn out the way you plan them.

This blog started as a way to make sense of that gap. Between what customers want and what gets delivered. Between what the business thinks IT does and what IT actually does. Between the confident expert voice of a thousand non-fiction business books and the messy, human reality underneath.

Human Software, my debut novel, grew out of that frustration. It felt more honest than writing another business book that repackaged the same ideas with a different cover.

I’m still figuring out what this blog is. You’ll find technical posts from the journey, thoughts on writing, and notes from wherever book two takes me.

I’m Richard W. Bown. This is where I think out loud.

Exploring Work Relationships through “HUMAN SOFTWARE”

BETH works for an American logistics company based in the UK. When a new executive, CHRISSIE, arrives to carry out a savage restructuring, they both get more than they’ve bargained for.

HUMAN SOFTWARE is a novel about ambition, betrayal and how to cope with change. When engineers have to keep systems running, companies can take advantage of our good nature and desire to go the extra mile.

“Absolutely gripping! A must-read” LOVDEEP PANNU, CTO at Epicenter

“Could not be more of the moment. A proper page turner, part thriller, part whodunnit and a fine dystopian parable” CHARLES HUMBLE, Tech consultant & Journalist at Conissaunce

Human Software Book Cover

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