Richard W. Bown - Author of Human Software

Writer. Engineer.

I’ve spent thirty years building enterprise software systems. Long enough to feel like I’m the master of my own destiny, and yet I still get frustrated when things turn out upside down. Because there’s always a gap between what we intend and what gets built.

Human Software grew out of that gap. It’s a sharp, funny and quietly unsettling novel about the humans behind the systems. Rather than write another industry manual, I wanted to share my hopes and fears for the future. As one reviewer put it, it “freaked me out more than any Stephen King”.

If you want to read a sample, then head over to the Human Software.

The follow-up book is already underway. Join my newsletter The Human Engineer to stay up to date.

SOFTWARE RUNS OUR WORLD. IT SHOULDN’T RULES OUR LIVES.

BETH WALTERS has kept Gerbach’s IT systems running through skill, stubbornness and too many sleepless nights. She works hard to support her family and community.

CHRISSIE HEGARTY is a new executive on a mission. She’s flown in from New York with a mandate, a deadline, and little patience for sentiment. She’s done this before. She knows how it ends.

They are not enemies. Not yet.