Software-Technology – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

AI for Good: Applications in Sustainability, Humanitarian Action & Health

By Scott J. Pearson | October 25, 2026October 25, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gotten a negative reputation in some circles. Many fear for their jobs or complain about shoddy results. Those feelings are often valid, but they omit how much good AI can accomplish. Indeed, Microsoft’s AI for Good lab takes on philanthropic projects that advance social good through humanitarianism and health. This book documents dozens of those accomplishments in a brief, accessible format. This book might immediately appear a bit dated to many…

Microsoft Foundry in Action: A Hands-On Guide to Building, Evaluating & Governing Enterprise AI Agents

By Scott J. Pearson | October 25, 2026October 25, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Microsoft has used its Azure platform to launch its OpenAI efforts. Recently, it rebranded and renamed its platform to Microsoft Foundry, presumably with some staying power. Like all new technical applications, Foundry can be tedious to use, and its online documentation is sprawling. Eduardo Sojo attempts to make sense of this application and explain it to new users so that they can make the most of it in their personal and professional applications. Much of…

Artificial Intelligence Leadership Management-Business

The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results

By Scott J. Pearson | October 16, 2026October 16, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Because AI is such a new field, most good books about it are grounded only in experience. Higher reflection, grounded in academic theory, is left to the AI engineers, and organizations and individual workers are left to flounder in how to use this transformative software. However, in this book, Gleb Tsipursky attempts to ground his experiences consulting with companies about AI into rigorous psychology. He seeks to show how organizations can position themselves so that…

Artificial Intelligence

Agentic Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI Agents to Reinvent Business, Work & Life

By Scott J. Pearson | September 7, 2026September 7, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to evolve quickly, perhaps too quickly for all of us to keep up. One of the current innovations is agentic AI, which can accomplish specific tasks for you with minimal programming or coding. Pascal Bornet and his vast team shows us how these innovations can help our lives and our work. Why did I pick up this book? I kept hearing the words “agentic AI” without really having a strong grasp…

Indie Management-Business Software-Technology

Successful Technology Consulting: How to Become a Top Dollar IT Consultant

By Scott J. Pearson | July 25, 2026July 25, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

This short work introduces the reader to a career in IT consulting. Written by Eetu Niemi, a ten-year veteran of the field, it describes what IT consulting actually looks like and presents options about which kind of positions entrants should look for based on their personal values and life traits. Importantly, he distinguishes between management consulting and IT consulting. Management consulting can pay more but is much more demanding in terms of hours and expectations.…

Artificial Intelligence Healthcare

A Giant Leap: How AI is Transforming Healthcare & What That Means for Our Future

By Scott J. Pearson | June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

There is no doubt that generative AI is a disruptive technology that will continue to have impacts in the coming years if not decades. Representing one-fifth of the American economy, healthcare is one area where AI has perhaps the most promise to do good. Since much of healthcare runs on textual material, generative AI’s ability to process material and respond appropriately brings a huge “wow” factor. UCSF clinician and informaticist Robert Wachter brings those ideas…

Program Management Software-Technology

Software Measurement & Estimation: A Practical Approach

By Scott J. Pearson | June 8, 2026June 8, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Metrics around software can be a difficult to attain. Some (Agile) suggest making up estimates and then making metrics based off of those estimates. Others (function points) build entire abstract schemes based on difficult-to-attain calculations. Either way, predicting and measuring progress are complex tasks, but they are necessary to communicate to management and to provide appropriate managerial oversight. In this book, the authors seek to provide practical methods to assure that projects are on track…

Leadership Program Management Software-Technology

More Effective Agile: A Roadmap for Software Leaders

By Scott J. Pearson | May 30, 2026May 30, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Steve McConnell is one of the best writers about software practices in our generation. Over decades, each of his books pushes the field forward, and each new book updates his thought with oodles of new data. This book, an evidence-based look at Agile, is no exception. Agile has become a catch-all term for a lot of software practices, but McConnell recenters his study about Agile on what’s most important in a business – getting results.…

Program Management Software-Technology

Agile Estimating & Planning

By Scott J. Pearson | May 22, 2026May 22, 2026 by Scott J. Pearson

Agile methods are just different than traditional approaches, kind of like Einsteinian physics is just different from Newtonian physics. They both have the same aims; they only have wildly different ways of getting there. Instead of estimating software schedules by reality-based values, agile creates abstractions like user stories, story points, and velocities to measure progress. Burndown charts project how quickly a feature set can be released. Maybe I’m an old fogey in the world of…