Middle Tech: Software Work and the Culture of Good Enough

by Paula Bialski

Why software isn’t perfect, as seen through the stories of software developers at a run-of-the-mill tech company

Contrary to much of the popular discourse, not all technology is seamless and awesome; some of it is simply “good enough.” In Middle Tech, Paula Bialski offers an ethnographic study of software developers at a non-flashy, non-start-up corporate tech company. Their stories reveal why software isn’t perfect and how developers communicate, care, and compromise to make software work—or at least work until the next update. Exploring the culture of good enoughness at a technology firm she calls “MiddleTech,” Bialski shows how doing good-enough work is a collectively negotiated resistance to the organizational ideology found in corporate software settings.

The truth, Bialski reminds us, is that technology breaks due to human-related staff cutbacks cause media platforms to crash, in-car GPS systems cause catastrophic incidents, and chatbots can be weird. Developers must often labor to patch and repair legacy systems rather than dream up killer apps. Bialski presents a less sensationalist, more empirical portrait of technology work than the frequently told Silicon Valley narratives of disruption and innovation. She finds that software engineers at MiddleTech regard technology as an ephemeral object that only needs to be good enough to function until its next iteration. As a result, they don’t feel much pressure to make it perfect. Through the deeply personal stories of people and their practices at MiddleTech, Bialski traces the ways that workers create and sustain a complex culture of good enoughness.

Genres: Nonfiction

211 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 21, 2024

Reviews

[Jan D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and well readable ethnography work and values at a Berlin software company – Not a Silicon Valley giant, nor a startup, just an average, middle-sized tech company. The descriptions and analysis stays close to the everyday work of programmers and managers. We don’t get the frantic pace and overnight work of “The soul of a new machine” nor big names discussing the future of whatever, but the everyday, skillful yet mundane work that is needed to keep producing "good-enough" software.

[Sonja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy read, and excellent report on the socio-political and relational aspects that keep the necessities of our digital infrastructure alive, without the glamour and glitz that hustle culture demands, but with an acceptance of the importance of maintaining, caring and preserving tech products within the ecosystem of friends, family etc

[Alex Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of ethnography & this started well by describing software development in a 5,000 employee software house. But I got worn down by the cynicism in their process, which doesn't reflect my experience in the day job (we're cynical about different things ;-)). I think I understood the "good enough" vibe by half way through and didn't feel bad about abandoning the book.