Jeff Russell

Thank you for these thoughts!

1) I have yet to read either of the Polanyi brothers, but I've run into references to both before, so I'm sure I'll need to at some point.

2) Fair enough on some of the challenges with Agile in large organizations. I might argue that the accounting and government regulations are themselves forms of over-legibility screwing up what could be a more organic process, but the idea of updating/maintaining requiring a different skillset and approach to building from scratch is a good one, and one that I think not only large organizations, but also most software engineers, are poorly suited to (building new things is fun and interesting! maintenance is boring!)

3) I love Alexander's work! I couldn't think of a way to bring him up without launching into a practically a whole 'nother essay, but he was lurking behind the architecture and living space section (I likely should have dropped him at least a wikipedia link or the like). Fun Jeff fact: as I was getting out of the Army, I very strongly considered getting a "first professional masters degree" in architecture, which is a program where you get a Masters without relevant undergrad study, because I love beautiful buildings and am fascinated by how the built environment affects folks and their lives. It was largely due to reading Alexander and some related types that I realized that architecture as a job field these days is hugely biased against almost everything I like and respect in shaping human environments, so I went for Business School instead (maybe not better, but hey, it pays pretty well).

Cheers,
Jeff