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Chiron Codex: helping software engineers become centaurs. APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
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Category Archives: Responsibility
On industrial relations
Today, 2026 May 3, marks the centenary of the onset of a general strike in the UK. In response to a dispute over the organisation and pay in British coal mines following the end of a fixed-term government subsidy, the … Continue reading
Considering society
OK now that the anniversary’s out of the way, I can stop being hagiographic towards agile software development and point out the one big flaw in the approach. It’s a stinker. Here’s the list of everybody mentioned in the manifesto … Continue reading
Posted in agile, Responsibility, software-engineering
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On association
My research touches on the professionalisation (or otherwise) of software engineering, and particularly the association (or not) of software engineers with a professional body, or with each other (or not) through a professional body. So what’s that about? In Engagement … Continue reading
The missing principle in agile software development
The biggest missing feature in the manifesto for agile software development and the principles behind it is anyone other than the makers and their customer. We get autonomous, self-organising delivery teams but without the sense of responsibility to a broader … Continue reading
Posted in agile, Responsibility
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More on freedom and licensing
Last month, I asked whether Freedom Zero is such a great idea, whether it’s OK to limit the freedom to use the software for any purpose if you dislike the purpose to which you believe someone will put it. I … Continue reading
Posted in Business, freesoftware, Responsibility
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Is Freedom Zero such a hot idea?
I’ve been thinking lately that if we don’t want to work on the databases that extremist governments use to detain immigrants they have separated from their children, or on the operating systems that well-equipped militaries used to rain autonomous death … Continue reading
Posted in Responsibility
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I frequently see posts/articles/screeds asking why people don’t contribute to open source. If it’s important that recipients of open source software contribute upstream, and you are angry when they don’t, why use licences like MIT, Apache, GPL or BSD that … Continue reading
Stop ignoring the world
Long term readers will have noticed, and everybody else is about to be told, that this blog has had posts in the Responsibility category since 2010. I’m not rigorous in my use of WordPress categories, but it’s not much of … Continue reading
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My platform is no platform
I currently use three of the desktop computing platforms (Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux) and one of the mobile computing platforms (Samsung-flavoured Android); I currently get paid to develop software for “the web”, an amorphous non-platform that acts in many ways … Continue reading
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This is fine
The BBC micro:bit is a tool for introducing young people to programming. It’s a little embedded computer with a few inputs and a matrix of LEDs for output, as well as some control lines. In principle it’s quite easy to … Continue reading
Posted in edjercashun, Responsibility
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