Background

I was bitten by the computing bug at the age of fifteen. Like many others of my generation it started with an Apple IIe in my computing class.

It grabbed my attention with such intensity that I was often late for following classes. I remember being confused by the statement i = i + 1. How was that mathematically possible! Fortunately I wasn’t able to take it home otherwise my school work would have been severely impacted.

Looking back that was an early taste of the attention grabbing power of computing devices…

That started my career path, with perfect timing enabling me to surf the multiple waves of technological change that rippled through every few years. Change was a constant that kept life interesting.

I didn’t know it at the time that this particular technology would change the world so significantly. But it has perhaps irrevocably so.

Throughout my career as a technologist I found myself continually trying to explain how things worked. I got good at it (or so I thought). I also learned how important people were in the process of adopting technology.

For a long time I’ve watched countless intelligent folk try and explain information technology (or computing, digital,blah,falute..). I’ve lived through too many methodologies and attended too many religious experiences at vendor led conferences. The next big thing… Even to me with my close involvement it often didn’t make sense.

Now on reflection I’ve reached a level of understanding how it fits together.

I’m going to try and capture that knowledge and communicate it.

I hope readers find it useful. At the very least I might get it out of my head!