I write regularly about writing itself, with the human challenges of software engineering and sketches of things I’m thinking about for the future. Many of these blog posts have a technical nature but the thread is that they are all deeply human.
Popular posts by category are shown below. If you want more then be sure to check out the full archive.
Craft and Creativity
Posts about the craft of writing. Essays on storytelling, writing prompts, lessons from the writing process and books I love.
- When It Feels Like You’re Going Home
As we get closer to winter, our thoughts naturally turn to comfort, to the season of merriment and relaxation and, of course, home. But feelings of home are sometimes hard to define. Is it where you… Read More »When It Feels Like You’re Going Home - Is Self-Publishing Something for You?
I attended a discussion at the Amercian Book Center in Amsterdam last month. Authors, readers and agents met with some representatives of the traditional publishing industry and heard their tips for succeeding in 2025 and beyond.… Read More »Is Self-Publishing Something for You? - HUMAN SOFTWARE: Kindle Edition available for Pre-Order
Yesterday I pushed the button on the pre-order for the Kindle Edition of HUMAN SOFTWARE: A Life in I.T. You can get it here and it will be delivered to your device on September 25th What… Read More »HUMAN SOFTWARE: Kindle Edition available for Pre-Order
Human Stories and Inner Worlds
Personal essays, life experience, reflections on identity, change, memory, and growth.
- Legacy Systems and the Cost of Hidden Technical Debt
One of the most important recurring technical themes I explore in Human Software is how chronic underinvestment in core legacy systems, in favour of either aggressive expansion or assumed obsolescence, leaves engineers having a terrible time.… Read More »Legacy Systems and the Cost of Hidden Technical Debt - A Younger Model, A Local Model
I don’t want to run a local model. I don’t want to run a younger model. I want an old model that’s been taught properly. I want a model that has been tuned specifically. I want… Read More »A Younger Model, A Local Model - At this Time of Year Just Stop Trying to Please People
I get a text: “Want to join us for some beers later?” Urgh, the second night out of three and I was just contemplating sitting here by myself the whole evening. Still, they are only here… Read More »At this Time of Year Just Stop Trying to Please People
Ideas and Meaning
Long-form contemplations on life, purpose, systems thinking beyond tech, philosophy, social dynamics and cultural patterns.
- The Real Value of Team Topologies
What is Team Topologies? Is it a framework? Is it a set of principles? How can you start using it without having a big-bang, top-down approach? And is that ever the right approach? Two years ago… Read More »The Real Value of Team Topologies - Why I still love Legacy
Almost three years ago I started a podcast without really knowing where it was going. The only thing I knew was that it was good to talk about things – to talk out loud about ideas. … Read More »Why I still love Legacy - How to be a People Pleaser
Like the washing machine, we all have our time. I started to listen to you back then when you were hearing the talking of the clock, the repetitive nature of the advice doled out on the… Read More »How to be a People Pleaser
Imagination and Speculation
Thought experiments, alternate worlds, future possible realities, essays blurring speculative fiction with real life.
Conversations and Interviews
Dialogues with writers or thinkers, reflective interviews and guest posts.
Fiction and Narrative Experiments
Serialised fiction, speculative essays, character sketches, short stories and narrative prose.
- Making Her Smile
There was only one problem. The tree wouldn’t fit through the door. I try again, but it would be a case of losing too many needles, not to mention paint, wall ornaments and that table looks… Read More »Making Her Smile - My Dispassionate Friend
On that day, I took the usual train away from my normal station to another place. A place out on the promontory, the shell and shingle bank that runs between the chalk cliffs of this land.… Read More »My Dispassionate Friend
Leadership
Legacy articles about leadership.
- No one Knows How These Systems Are Supposed to Work
I’m on a call where it’s obvious that no one knows how to fix this system, because no one is confident in their understanding of it. How many times have you been on that call? When… Read More »No one Knows How These Systems Are Supposed to Work - It’s not all Plain Sailing
To sail is to be in constant uncertainty. The sea is never the same twice. The conditions are never the same twice. There are no two boats alike. Crews change. The experience is never the same.… Read More »It’s not all Plain Sailing - The Secrets of Quiet Leadership
I’ve been reading Quiet by Susan Cain. Only a few pages in I’m reminded about a story that makes me ashamed and a little sad. I was a new engineering manager trying to establish myself in… Read More »The Secrets of Quiet Leadership
Architecture
- Emergent Architecture and Beating the Monolith
What does it mean to support, extend or even replace a monolith and should we even try? I explore the landscape as it is now – when we feel under pressure to “do microservices” yet we… Read More »Emergent Architecture and Beating the Monolith - Defining the Bounded Context is the Key to Flow
One of the core concepts of Domain Driven Design (Eric Evans) is the Bounded Context. Here’s an excellent summary of the Bounded Context in DDD and a specification of how it should relate to source code… Read More »Defining the Bounded Context is the Key to Flow - Causes of Tech Debt and Legacy
I have talked about this on the podcast but wanted to break out a list of potential items that cause tech debt and legacy into groups to be used as a reference. Do you recognise any… Read More »Causes of Tech Debt and Legacy
Engineering
- When to Say Stop to Copilot’s Unhelpful Hallucinations
It’s quite a regular requirement in my day job that we update the Linux and Windows images associated with our EC2 instances in AWS. There’s a platform team dedicated to rolling out company-specific versions of our… Read More »When to Say Stop to Copilot’s Unhelpful Hallucinations - How to Improve Development Speed using Ansible and Packer for AWS
If you’re a jobbing SRE or DevOps engineer you’ll often be parachuted into someone else’s mess and have to make sense of it. A lot of the last ten years of public cloud work has been… Read More »How to Improve Development Speed using Ansible and Packer for AWS - The Passive-Aggressive Pull Request
Have you ever had an extreme reaction to someone leaving a comment on a Pull Request (PR)? Why was that? Was it something about your mood that day? Was it that you feel attacked and don’t… Read More »The Passive-Aggressive Pull Request