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Why people are at the center of systems

Framing systems as both social and technical
September 22, 2021

Systems are more than just technical. They are designed, built, monitored, maintained – and sometimes broken – by humans. Systems are sociotechnical.

That’s why putting people at the center of processes is essential when creating and maintaining successful systems. In this article, I will share what a sociotechnical approach to system management looks like; why centering your engineers is important for closing the context gap and breaking down silos; and how you can get started in your organization.

There are a couple of questions I like to ask people working in tech: How many projects were you involved in that failed mainly because you feel the technological choices were wrong? And how many projects can you count where instead you believe the failure was mainly related to breakdowns in communication and shared understanding?

Usually, and for me personally, the answer to the first question can be counted on one hand, maybe two.

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