Phil Windley

Is trust. From Self-Sovereign Identity are some essays:

- The Domains of Identity

Kaliya “Identity Woman” Young

http://identitywoman.net/domains-of-identity

- New Hope for Digital Identity

Doc Searls

https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/new-hope-digital-identity

- The Architecture of Identity Systems

Phil Windley

https://www.windley.com/archives/2020/09/the_architecture_of_identity_systems.shtml

- Three Dimensions of Identity

Jason Law and Daniel Hardman

https://medium.com/evernym/three-dimensions-of-identity-bc06ae4aec1c

- Meta-Platforms and Cooperative Network-of-Network Effects

Dr. Sam Smith

https://medium.com/selfrule/meta-platforms-and-cooperative-network-of-networks-effects-6e61eb15c586

- Verifiable Credentials Aren’t Credentials. They’re Containers.

Timothy Ruff

https://rufftimo.medium.com/verifiable-credentials-arent-credentials-they-re-containers-fab5b3ae5c0

- The Seven Deadly Sins of Customer Relationships

Jamie Smith

http://evernym.com/seven-sins

[1] Preukschat, A. Drummond, R. Manning. 2021.

Software development is like movie making: http://www.silicon-stories.com/movie-making-software-development.php

Software architecture is like city planning: http://www.windley.com/archives/2003/09/enterprise_arch_4.shtml

Software development is not like manufacturing: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/10/is-software-development-like-manufacturing.html

Software development is like manufacturing: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321150783/codihorr-20

I believe that software development can be disciplined (development of missile control systems, payroll systems) or be agile (instagram, pinterest, facebook...). I think it all depends on what is considered to be the most valued resource for the organization and the software it is planning to build/compose/manufacture/make.

If we value system resources (real time constraints, compliance, SLA), we tend to be more like building systems.
If we value end users experience in the final outcome, it tends be agile and take the notion of the movie/novel et al.

Alan Kay uses an interesting analogy to explain the distinction between "Computer Science" and "Software Engineering":

UCLA has one computer science department, but 25 full departments of biology (not counting medical school stuff). Why? Biologists are smarter then we are. When things are bogging down, the best thing to do is to go create a new department. (http://www.windley.com/cgi-bin/printthis.pl?url=http://www.windley.com/archives/2006/02/alan_kay_is_com.shtml)

I think the pharmacy:"software engineering"::biology:"computer science" metaphor is pretty insightful. So to answer your question - people discount a formal education in CS because it isn't necessary to write good code, just like pharmacists don't need the formal education that research biologists go through.

For those along the lines of "History of Rome," I would recommend Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (which has a 3 part series on the Fall of the Roman Empire (which goes back several hundred years). He also has a 4 part series on the Eastern Front of WWII, "Toughness" in generations in History, and many other interesting podcasts.

He is very engaging and informed (he was / is an investigative journalist and a history buff, taking from multiple sources and citing biases or clashes with alternative sources.)
http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive

He has a separate podcast "Common Sense" for politics.

Phil Windley (of Kynetx, local to UT) has diverse tech podcasts: http://www.windley.com/