Software-Technology – Page 5 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Is the Algorithm Plotting Against Us? A Layperson’s Guide to the Concepts, Math & Pitfalls of AI

By Scott J. Pearson | June 24, 2023June 24, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Post-pandemic, perhaps no STEM topic has gripped the news quite like Artificial Intelligence (AI). For almost a century (since Isaac Asimov), science-fiction writers have dreamed of computers gaining consciousness, but now, some propose those possibilities near fruition. Often, people who write about AI in the news focus solely on social aspects; those developing the technology, in contrast, focus solely on technical details. Few individuals can provide a balanced look that relates both levels. Kenneth Wenger’s…

The Philosopher of Palo Alto: Mark Weiser, Xerox PARC & the Original Internet of Things

By Scott J. Pearson | May 18, 2023August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Palo Alto sits at the center of Silicon Valley as the world capital of technological development. In the final decades of the twentieth century, Xerox’s PARC labs held an eminent place within its culture and helped expand ideas like Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and “ubiquitous computing.” The man who coined the latter phrase is Mark Weiser, a late scholar whose work I was not intimately acquainted with until reading this work. In this biography of…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Precisely: Working with Precision Systems in a World of Data

By Scott J. Pearson | April 7, 2023March 22, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

In recent years, the world, empowered by computer technologies and advanced data collection, has experienced an explosion of information. Instead of focusing on a few fixed principles, decision-making increasingly takes place in light of ever-changing data points. How are business folk supposed to develop, deploy, and use these systems? In this book, Tumin and Want provide a series of case studies that illustrate how leaders across many domains have accomplished this. They then extract guidelines…

Biography-Memoir Management-Business Software-Technology

Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

By Scott J. Pearson | March 19, 2023March 19, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Tony Fadell assumes that the reader knew of his career by virtue of picking up this book. That was not the case with me. I develop software and implement technology solutions for a living and found the title intriguing. Fadell led iPod and iPhone hardware teams at Apple and pioneered the Nest “connected home” technology company (now Google Nest). So as an author, he brings some “street cred” to the topic of building technology companies.…

Presentation Software-Technology

Universal Principles of UX: 100 Timeless Strategies to Create Positive Interactions between People & Technology

By Scott J. Pearson | March 7, 2023August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

UX is shorthand in the software industry for “user experience.” It’s often used in conjunction with UI, or “user interface.” In the world of the web, good user interfaces and user experiences can lead to successful, profitable websites – regardless of their function. Likewise, bad UIUX almost always leads to a website’s failure. Thus, specialists are often paid well to design and implement these aspects with skill. But in a world of ever-changing designs, how…

Leadership Management-Business Software-Technology

The CIO Paradox: Battling the Contradictions of IT Leadership

By Scott J. Pearson | February 23, 2023September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

I write this review a full decade after this book was published. Further, I am a software developer in a large organization and, though quite happy, will likely never become a CIO at that company. Therefore, I don’t reside in the intended audience in this book. However, I notice many of these paradoxes in my work. I have to master the technical aspects of my job yet be adept enough to communicate to end-users. I…

Leadership Management-Business Software-Technology

Fostering Innovation: How to Build an Amazing IT Team

By Scott J. Pearson | August 12, 2022September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

A Chief Information Officer (CIO) is a relatively new addition to a modern business’s C-suite. However, despite being recent, in an era of digital innovation, it’s become an essential one. Instead of offloading work onto employees, most companies try to offload some of the work onto the IT department. IT specialists, the builders of technology, usually cannot meld their products into business-ready deliverables. That’s where the CIO comes in, to lead tech efforts towards a…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Managing Humans: Biting & Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager

By Scott J. Pearson | August 2, 2022August 2, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Software engineers stereotypically have the personality type to stay behind their desks and not socialize too much. Their coding skills, so the story goes, facilitate their contribution to the company, not their finessing of humans. However, if they are ever promoted to a manager, they quickly have to pivot to understanding how to get their needs from subordinates who don’t always seek after managerial social approval. Not everyone is successful with this transition, but once…

Presentation Software-Technology

Type on Screen: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Developers, & Students

By Scott J. Pearson | April 24, 2022April 24, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Since Gutenberg, fonts have spent a lot of effort at perfecting how words appears on print. However, in the last several decades, screens have taken over. Thus, there has been a subtle shift in paradigms. For example, humans read text on screens typically further away than print; thus, designs for screens need to have a larger font size. To explore these nuances, Lupton (an established expert in typography) and her students at the Maryland Institute…

Management-Business Software-Technology

Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Personal Life & Unlock Your Creative Potential

By Scott J. Pearson | April 9, 2022April 9, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

In the last few decades, computers and the Internet have provided humans with new access to untold masses of information. Humans are just now catching up on how to use this information for our own good. The technology needs to make our lives easier and more productive, not less so. Fortunately, first-time author Tiago Forte points the way to use these tools to aid creativity. In book form, he teaches a method that he’s shared…