The Books I Read in 2021: Part 4
In 2021, I started a new job as the manager of the front-end reporting team on the electronic health records implementation programme at Guy's and St Thomas'. This was my first time managing a team, and my first time working on a programme rather than in a business-as-usual role. I was both excited, but also anxious - and so my usual coping mechanism of buying books kicked in!
Now, a year after our go-live, I am looking back at some of the books I read at the time, and thinking about what I took from them.
- Title: Working in Public
- Author: Nadia Eghbal
- Publication Date: 2020
- How did I hear about it: Twitter
A study of open-source software and its developers might not seem a natural choice for someone about to embark on a multi-year project working almost exclusively with closed-source products. But I wanted to get a glimpse into the world of open-source, which I have never participated in, but like all of us have benefited from immensely.
This book helped me to understand the significance of git and Github not just as a tool for version control, but as a tool for collaboration. Developers from all over the world, who may have cultural differences and have never met, have created a way to make safe contributions to complex software. Eghbal carefully analyses the human factors that make successful OS communities work - including high context, trust, clear guidelines and commitment.
I became convinced that we could achieve the much smaller step of distributing and collaborating directly on development with colleagues in all participating organisations - not just limiting development to our own team. The jury is probably still out on this. There are some signs that encourage me to think it was a good idea.
The sections on active users (filing bugs or evangelising the software, as opposed to contributors who literally improve the code) and user support are helpful for thinking through the effects of scale and success on the cost of ownership.