Over the last month, I’ve been completing structural edits and honing the message that I want to get across with my debut novel, Human Software. I’ve also been exploring the world in which the main characters live and
I started writing Human Software because I wanted to write a story that followed the lives of real people who worked day-to-day in the software world. I didn’t want this book to have a happy ending for the business, I wanted it to have a happy ending for the protagonists. That was my premise.
Human Software follows the lives of two main characters: Beth, a software engineer and her new “big” boss, Chrissie.
Beth and Chrissie
Beth grew up in Sandport, a fictional town in the south of the UK. A friend from her school is now her team lead, and her husband is best friends with another one of her teammates. Everyone knows each other. They have fun, they get the job done, but perhaps sometimes they cut corners. Their current manager is affable but a bit useless. A series of continual failures has meant that head office needs to make some changes.
Chrissie grew up in the States and went to a good University before working for a big consultancy. She then travelled the world with her husband while they raised their daughter before returning to work at Gerbach and taking on a senior operations role. Chrissie is tasked with getting Sandport under control.
Why is Sandport so important?
Sandport was once a major shipping destination for packages and parcels in and out of the UK. With excellent connections to the sea and the European continent, Sandport was selected as the headquarters for Gerbach in Europe, attracting IT professionals from far and wide to build the systems that have made Gerbach famous. Their logistics and warehousing software is used by companies all around the world. It’s mission-critical.
Supported and built from there, this is Sandport’s legacy to Gerbach. With expert knowledge workers who understand shipping, logistics and warehousing. In the drive to cut costs, a lot of the work is being offshored distributed among consultancies promising cost savings and efficiency.
Against this backdrop, Gerbach also has plans to centralise and revolutionise its business using the latest technology.
Who are my readers?
Anyone who wants to know more about the business of software engineering.
Human Software gives a glimpse into the world of the professional lives of engineers and lifts the lid on just how messy it all is. It shows how plans often go awry, and systems that you would think are bulletproof are usually riddled with holes. How everyday people are forced into making decisions which might have life and death consequences for others.
Gerbach is a place where accountability and responsibility are avoided, and careers are ruined in minutes by making either mistake or annoying the wrong person. It is also the lifeblood of the local community.
How can Beth and Chrissie negotiate their professional, family, and personal lives while getting what they want from a company that often doesn’t seem to care?
New Concept Art
As I get closer to publication, I’ll be trying out a few different covers. Here’s a new concept.
