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If you haven't done so: please write a book. Aim it towards software professionals in non-regulated industries. I promise to buy 50 to give to all of my softwar

If you haven't done so: please write a book. Aim it towards software professionals in non-regulated industries. I promise to buy 50 to give to all of my software developing colleagues. As for 'N', for turboprops it is 45, for jets it is 30.

edanm 1y ago
Seconded! This was an extremely well written and well thought out explanation of this idea. Would love to read more along these lines. (Will now be checking out your blog.)
- jacquesm 1y ago
  Also check out risks digest: https://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/ https://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/
xeonmc 1y ago
If he aims it toward five year olds as he had explained it, bet it would be even more applicable to our profession.
- abustamam 1y ago
  Having spent some time with my five year old nieces and nephews, sometimes I wonder if five year olds could run companies better. (note: obviously sarcastic but kids really do have some amazing insights that we forget when trying to chase KPIs or revenue)
  - xeonmc 1y ago
    See also: various points in the Evil Overlord list[0]. Selected examples: #12: One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation. #60: My five-year-old child advisor will also be asked to decipher any code I am thinking of using. If he breaks the code in under 30 seconds, it will not be used. Note: this also applies to passwords. #74: When I create a multimedia presentation of my plan designed so that my five-year-old advisor can easily understand the details, I will not label the disk "Project Overlord" and leave it lying on top of my desk. [0] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlordList https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlordList
    - abustamam 1y ago
      I'd never seen that list before but it's hilarious!
DocTomoe 1y ago
Seconded. That being said: I have - for some years now - started to read air accident board reports (depending on your locale, they may be named slightly different). They make for a fascinating read, and they have made me approach debugging and postmortems in a more structured, more holistic way. They should be freely available on your transportation safety board websites (NTSB in America, BFU in Germany, ...)
kqr 1y ago
I want to write more about this, but it has been a really difficult subject to structure. I gave up halfway through this article, for example, and never published it – I didn't even get around to editing it, so it's mostly bad stream of consciousness stuff: https://entropicthoughts.com/root-cause-analysis-youre-doing-it-wrong https://entropicthoughts.com/root-cause-analysis-youre-doing... I intend to come back to it some day, but I do not think that day is today.
- sans_souse 1y ago
  Just started reading the linked text after reading your comment and I agree, this is high quality education, and enjoyable. It's an art, really. Thank you for sharing your work and please keep it up. Just a thought I had while reading your introduction: this is applicable even to running a successful business model. I'm honestly having trouble even putting it into words, but you have my analytical mind going now at a very late hour... Thanks!
- ta988 1y ago
  Thanks, I would buy your book. But I understand the effort necessary all too well.
- hengheng 1y ago
  Write it as a children's book. A literal ELI5. (Knowing, of course, that it will still be read mainly by engineers. But that's the charm.)
  - MandieD 1y ago
    I have a rather over-confident five year old, so would LOVE that book right now.
- jacquesm 1y ago
  Ok. I am impressed with your ability to take such complex subjects and make them plain, you are delivering very high quality here. The subject is absolutely underserved in the industry as far as I'm aware of it, and I would love to have a book that I can hand out to people working on software in critical infrastructure and life sciences that gets them up to speed. The annoying thing is that software skills are values much higher than the ability to accurate model the risks because that is only seen as a function of small choices standing by themselves. A larger, overall approach is what is very often called for and it would help to have a tool in hand to both make that case and to give the counterparty the vocabulary and the required understanding of the subject in order to have a meaningful conversation. Edit: please post your link from above as a separate submission.
ratorx 1y ago
Google’s SRE STPA starts with a similar model. I haven’t read the external document, but my team went through this process internally and we considered the hazardous states and environmental triggers. https://sre.google/stpa/teaching https://sre.google/stpa/teaching Disclaimer: currently employed by Google, this message is not sponsored.
hotelbet7 1y ago
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edanm 1y ago

Seconded! This was an extremely well written and well thought out explanation of this idea. Would love to read more along these lines. (Will now be checking out your blog.)

jacquesm 1y ago
Also check out risks digest: https://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/ https://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/

xeonmc 1y ago

If he aims it toward five year olds as he had explained it, bet it would be even more applicable to our profession.

abustamam 1y ago
Having spent some time with my five year old nieces and nephews, sometimes I wonder if five year olds could run companies better. (note: obviously sarcastic but kids really do have some amazing insights that we forget when trying to chase KPIs or revenue)
- xeonmc 1y ago
  See also: various points in the Evil Overlord list[0]. Selected examples: #12: One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation. #60: My five-year-old child advisor will also be asked to decipher any code I am thinking of using. If he breaks the code in under 30 seconds, it will not be used. Note: this also applies to passwords. #74: When I create a multimedia presentation of my plan designed so that my five-year-old advisor can easily understand the details, I will not label the disk "Project Overlord" and leave it lying on top of my desk. [0] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlordList https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlordList
  - abustamam 1y ago
    I'd never seen that list before but it's hilarious!

DocTomoe 1y ago

Seconded. That being said: I have - for some years now - started to read air accident board reports (depending on your locale, they may be named slightly different). They make for a fascinating read, and they have made me approach debugging and postmortems in a more structured, more holistic way. They should be freely available on your transportation safety board websites (NTSB in America, BFU in Germany, ...)

kqr 1y ago

I want to write more about this, but it has been a really difficult subject to structure. I gave up halfway through this article, for example, and never published it – I didn't even get around to editing it, so it's mostly bad stream of consciousness stuff: https://entropicthoughts.com/root-cause-analysis-youre-doing-it-wrong https://entropicthoughts.com/root-cause-analysis-youre-doing... I intend to come back to it some day, but I do not think that day is today.

sans_souse 1y ago
Just started reading the linked text after reading your comment and I agree, this is high quality education, and enjoyable. It's an art, really. Thank you for sharing your work and please keep it up. Just a thought I had while reading your introduction: this is applicable even to running a successful business model. I'm honestly having trouble even putting it into words, but you have my analytical mind going now at a very late hour... Thanks!
ta988 1y ago
Thanks, I would buy your book. But I understand the effort necessary all too well.
hengheng 1y ago
Write it as a children's book. A literal ELI5. (Knowing, of course, that it will still be read mainly by engineers. But that's the charm.)
- MandieD 1y ago
  I have a rather over-confident five year old, so would LOVE that book right now.
jacquesm 1y ago
Ok. I am impressed with your ability to take such complex subjects and make them plain, you are delivering very high quality here. The subject is absolutely underserved in the industry as far as I'm aware of it, and I would love to have a book that I can hand out to people working on software in critical infrastructure and life sciences that gets them up to speed. The annoying thing is that software skills are values much higher than the ability to accurate model the risks because that is only seen as a function of small choices standing by themselves. A larger, overall approach is what is very often called for and it would help to have a tool in hand to both make that case and to give the counterparty the vocabulary and the required understanding of the subject in order to have a meaningful conversation. Edit: please post your link from above as a separate submission.

ratorx 1y ago

Google’s SRE STPA starts with a similar model. I haven’t read the external document, but my team went through this process internally and we considered the hazardous states and environmental triggers. https://sre.google/stpa/teaching https://sre.google/stpa/teaching Disclaimer: currently employed by Google, this message is not sponsored.

hotelbet7 1y ago

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