I'm writing a book on the human side of being a developer. Sign up below for weekly reflections on working better and happier and what it means to be human in the age of AI, plus occasional glimpses of my art. Find out more at beyondwritingcode.com.
Being human, issue 22 of Beyond Writing Code
Published about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Beyond Writing Code #22
October 15, 2025
In the past week, I got a great prompt about my book that I didn't have a ready answer for, even though I am six months(!) into this process.
"I'm writing my book because _________"
The Book Academy team posted this topic for discussion on our alumni forum. And a recent episode of Macy Robison's "Own Your Impact" podcast posed a similar question.
Rephrasing both: What's your 'why'?
Everything else stems from how I answer that question. Not just what I write, but also who I'm writing for, how I design the book, and how I put the book out into the world.
I gave this one some thought. Here's what I'm thinking about so far.
My not-so-secret mission
For many years, I have had a personal mission for my work.
It started out with a simple premise: People spend a lot of their lives at work, a lot of their work time around computers, and a lot of their computer time wanting to throw said computer out the window.
The first version of the mission, then, was to make people's lives better by making the computers less frustrating.
Then I moved to a team developing a product my colleagues and I used every day. I enjoyed working on something that made my own colleagues' work lives better.
From interacting with them daily, I knew their needs and pain points. And I could use my skills as a developer to help.
From technical to sociotechnical
Next, as a senior developer, I began to think more about the processes and the culture of my team and the development teams around us. Sometimes, the needs and pain points are about how we are doing things, not the tools we are using.
Besides, for as long as I've been working, I've been interested in how we can work more efficiently, more effectively, and with greater satisfaction. My tech and ways of working book list and my leadership book list provide you a view of what I read for fun.
Modern software development processes and ways of working are central to what my mission is now: improving the work lives of developers.
Being human
My answer to the Book Academy team's question (so far):
I’m writing my book because we need better ways of working in tech, and being human is the way there.
That statement raises more big questions: what's this about "being human"? And what makes me think that's the way?
Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash
People stuff
Developers have a reputation for being bad at the "people stuff." Certainly some developers have earned that reputation.
I've even met developers who seem outright proud of it. As if being socially inept were somehow proof of superior intelligence.
It isn't, and most of the rest of the world is under no such illusion. Developers might be shocked to learn how much this reputation harms us.
And the more developers grow and advance, the more important the people skills become. We still need the tech skills, but we're working with a bigger picture than an isolated section of the codebase.
That bigger picture includes other people.
And I don't just mean "you need to be able to talk and listen," although communication skills are important. The complex systems we work with include people such as:
The customer trying to use the product
The hacker trying to break it
The developer who will troubleshoot the code a year later
The colleague who will have to adjust to the change
The manager who is unconvinced that the shiny product is worth the investment
Skills like empathy, patience, and adaptability aren't just about being more pleasant to work with. They're essential to creating a good product and to getting things done.
AI and our humanity
After Enterprise Technology Leadership Summit, which was a view of how AI is affecting the enterprise, I am newly obsessed with the role of humans and humanness in software development.
What is a developer when you take away the "writing code" part of the role? As AI becomes more and more capable of writing code, this becomes an important question.
Other questions on my mind:
What skills do we need now, beyond the technology skills? Are they the same skills we've always needed, or does AI change that?
What happens if skills certain developers may have dismissed as extraneous turn out to be essential?
How does AI change who we interact with?
What do humans still do better? When and how is being human an advantage?
An extreme example of the latter:
At the conference, Toyota's telematics group pointed out: you do not want a call for emergency help answered by a machine. A human with AI helping them? Sure. But not an AI.
(You can watch Toyota's full presentation here - fair warning that it includes recordings of emergency calls, and they are intense! It's interesting to think about why having a human answer those calls is important.)
More questions:
How does AI change who we interact with? Will our teams evolve?
How are we coping with the rapid pace of change?
How can organizations support learning and experimentation?
How can we address strong negative reactions that are arising (fear of becoming obsolete, resentment at having to set aside what we know and love)
I have some gut feelings about why and how "being human" might be important in the AI age, but I want to get out there and talk to others about it.
Hit reply and let me know: Who should I talk to? Whose writing I should read, or whose podcast should I listen to?
Who is already thinking about or researching this topic? I do have DORA on my list :)
Whose organization has been an early adopter in shifting from "traditional" software development to AI-empowered development?
Whose organization has been experimenting with supporting "non-developers" writing code?
If you have a specific person I should contact, feel free to forward this email to them. I'd love to connect.
Drop me a note
And I would love to hear from you, too. You are always welcome to reply and let me know your thoughts on what I've written or anything else on your mind.
This newsletter is approximately weekly. In addition, I post to my blog on my website, which also appears on Medium and Substack.
Why humanity matters in being a software developer
I'm writing a book on the human side of being a developer. Sign up below for weekly reflections on working better and happier and what it means to be human in the age of AI, plus occasional glimpses of my art. Find out more at beyondwritingcode.com.