1 option
Fatal abstraction : why the managerial class loses control of software / Darryl Campbell.
- Format:
- Sound recording
- Author/Creator:
- Campbell, Darryl., Author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Software failures.
- Software engineering--Management.
- Software engineering.
- Computer software industry--Management.
- Computer software industry.
- Computer software--Development--Management.
- Computer software.
- Management--Technological innovations.
- Management.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (1 audio file (09 hr., 10 min., 20 sec.))
- Edition:
- Unabridged.
- Place of Publication:
- [S.l.] : Ascent Audio, 2025.
- System Details:
- audio file
- Summary:
- Software was supposed to radically improve society. Outdated mechanical systems would be easily replaced; social media platforms like Facebook would bring people together; and generative AI would solve the world's greatest ills. Yet in practice, few of the systems we looked to with such high hopes have lived up to their fundamental mandate. In fact, in too many cases they've made things worse. How did we get to this point? In Fatal Abstraction, Darryl Campbell explains that the problem is "managerial software": programs created and overseen not by engineers but by professional managers with only the most superficial knowledge of technology itself. A former tech worker himself, Campbell shows how managerial software fails, and when it does what sorts of disastrous consequences ensue, from the Boeing 737 MAX crashes to a deadly self-driving car to PowerPoint propaganda, and beyond. Yet just because the tech industry is currently breaking its core promise does not mean the industry cannot change. Campbell argues that the solution is tech workers with actual expertise establishing industry-wide principles of ethics and safety that corporations would be forced to follow. Fatal Abstraction is a stirring rebuke of the tech industry's current managerial excesses, and also a hopeful glimpse of what a world shaped by good software can offer.
- Participant:
- Narrator: Bob Johnson.
- Notes:
- Audio book.
- OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.
- ISBN:
- 9781663752994
- 1663752990
- OCLC:
- 1513871832
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.