Posts in book-review
Book review: First, break all the rules
- 26 April 2026
I recently read the book First, break all the rules, based on seeing it referred to in another source. It is one of these things about management, and I hoped to learn something that would help me in my job. It seemed to be a bit more practical and useful than some management books, and it was roughly true.
Book review: Systemantics
- 15 December 2025
I read the book Systemantics by John Gall. I saw some reference to it from another book, and Systemantics was short, so I figured why not. In the end, I’m glad I did - while it’s not scientific book, it’s given me a way to put various problems into words, which will probably be useful.
RSE lessons from Civil Engineering
- 31 July 2025
I have had a long-running metaphor of {academic researchers, research software engineers} being like {architects, structural engineers}. The basic idea is that coming up with interesting and worthwhile ideas/designs is a distinct field from giving ideas “structural integrity” (=reproduciblity and technical rigor).
