Paul Cantrell
There is far less difference between software vs. non-software projects / orgs than people imagine. Folks think there’s something magic and special about software because “Code Magic, Wizards Make, Need Third Brain Lobe”…but…nah.
If there is something atypical about software projects, it’s the extreme degree to which they distill and intensify human fallibility.
From @Andres4NY:
https://social.ridetrans.it/@Andres4NY/112956779995227919
Paul Cantrell
(Working that out on a napkin:)
1. Software codifies human (mis)understanding, literally.
2. Machines reify that codified understanding.
3. When humans execute a process, they do so with some degree of common sense and interpretational latitude (however small).
- e.g. cashier says “this customer’s getting screwed, I’m just going to hand them the free pastry or whatever”
- e.g. construction crew says “uh oh! water is flooding in as we dig, didn’t expect that, better stop and assess”
Paul Cantrell
4. When machines reify human understanding, they just go until explicitly stopped.
5. Any misunderstanding can thus proceed arbitrarily far unchecked.
6. Software’s powerful ability to create (a) complexity and (b) simplification via layered abstractions compounds its power, but increases the odds of human misunderstanding.
7. Items 5 + 6 means that catastrophic human misunderstanding is thus more likely •and• more impactful.
Raven667
@inthehands "To err is human but to really fould things up needs a computer!"
GNU social JP is a social network, courtesy of GNU social JP管理人. It runs on GNU social, version 2.0.2-dev, available under the GNU Affero General Public License.
All GNU social JP content and data are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.