Alex Davies – författare

*‘HUGELY ENTERTAINING.’ Alex Bellos, Guardian Rocket sleds. Chicken cannons. Artificial lightning.Welcome to the fantastical world of test engineering. ‘Surprisingly profound’ Guru Madhavan, author of Wicked Problems ‘Eye-opening and quirky’ Independent Non-Fiction Book of the Month________When we sit in an aeroplane, we trust that everything will work properly, that we will lift smoothly into the sky and touch down safely at our destination.What we don’t generally consider is the wild, unseen world of test engineering that makes all this possible: the hidden heroes who bend plane wings, zap them with artificial lightning and repeatedly smash their tires into the ground until they reach breaking point.Such outlandish experiments shape the products we use each and every day, from ‘childproof’ bottle caps to the cars we drive and the bridges we cross. They underpin our trust in the objects that we generally expect to work as anticipated and not (unexpectedly) crack, blow up or spontaneously collapse.As Alex Davies reveals, this amazing reliability is thanks to the mostly invisible, maniacal, yet methodical work of test engineers, who divine how everything and anything could go wrong and then plan for it in advance – using rocket sleds, chicken cannons, bear testers and any means necessary.Uncovering the surprisingly profound science behind the small print on the label, How to Keep a Plane in the Sky is a riotously entertaining must-read for fans of Humble Pi by Matt Parker; This Way Up by The Map Men, and Randall Munroe. ___‘Things fall apart . . . but Alex Davies tells the story of the people who pick up the pieces, subject them to rigorous testing, and rebuild the world.’ Adam Rogers, author of Full Spectrum'I can't remember the last book I devoured this quickly.’ PJ Vogt, host of the Search Engine podcast

When a manufacturer offers a 10,000-mile warranty on a car or slaps a “bear-resistant” label on a camping cooler, what do we know about how trustworthy that promise is, and how it’s backed up? For the cooler, it’s Kobuk the Destroyer, the fiercest member of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s panel of product-testing bears: Gifted at cracking locks and foiling manufacturers, Kobuk and his fellow bears play a crucial role in keeping us (and our snacks) safe. For everything else—as journalist Alex Davies reveals in this freewheeling tour of the hidden work that keeps the modern world going, safely and dependably—we have test engineers, who imagine how anything and everything could go wrong, and fight back.From echo-proof chambers to Formula 1 wind tunnels to airplane hangars turned torture labs, Davies takes readers behind the scenes of a workforce that combats contingency with equal parts analytical rigor and wild imagination. Armed with sixty-foot cannons that fire frozen chickens into jet engines, rocket sleds so fast they knock fillings out of teeth, and Lazy Susans for tasting hundreds of cups of tea a day, test engineers break it so you can buy it.But failure is a stubborn opponent: The tsunami will overtop the dam, the chatbot will give bad advice, the bear will eat your sandwich. Test engineers don’t just prevent disaster; they limit its fallout and make peace with its reality by balancing risk against reward. In an age of climate crisis, run-amok tech, and eroding trust in public institutions, knowing how they do it—and how we might do the same—is more valuable than ever before.Brimming with humor and insight, Kobuk the Destroyer is a celebration of human ingenuity and a deeply human story about uncertainty, resilience, and the art of making a fragile world a little more reliable.

If you’re writing one of several applications that call for asynchronous programming, this concise hands-on guide shows you how the async feature in C# 5.0 can make the process much simpler. Along with a clear introduction to asynchronous programming, you get an in-depth look at how the async feature works and why you might want to use it in your application.

Written for experienced C# programmers—yet approachable for beginners—this book is packed with code examples that you can extend for your own projects.

Write your own asynchronous code, and learn how async saves you from this messy choreDiscover new performance possibilities in ASP.NET web server codeExplore how async and WinRT work together in Windows 8 applicationsLearn the importance of the await keyword in async methodsUnderstand which .NET thread is running your code—and at what points in the programUse the Task-based Asynchronous Pattern (TAP) to write asynchronous APIs in .NETTake advantage of parallel computing in modern machinesMeasure async code performance by comparing it with alternatives

This book is for experienced C# developers that need to get a quick yet in depth look at what the new feature async in C# 5.0 means for their current and future projects.

Alex Davies tells the “illuminating and important narrative” (Steven Levy, author of Facebook: The Inside Story) of the quest to develop driverless cars—and the fierce competition between Google, Uber, and other companies in a race to revolutionize our lives.The self-driving car has been one of the most vaunted technological breakthroughs of recent years. But early promises that these autonomous vehicles would soon be on the roads have proven premature. Alex Davies follows the twists and turns of the story from its origins to today. The story starts with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which was charged with developing a land-based equivalent to the drone, a vehicle that could operate in war zones without risking human lives. DARPA issued a series of three “Grand Challenges” that attracted visionaries, many of them students and amateurs, who took the technology from Jetsons-style fantasy to near-reality. The young stars of the Challenges soon connected with Silicon Valley giants Google and Uber, intent on delivering a new way of driving to the civilian world. Soon the automakers joined the quest, some on their own, others in partnership with the tech titans. But as road testing progressed, it became clear that the challenges of driving a car without human assistance were more formidable than anticipated. Davies profiles the industry’s key players from the early enthusiasm of the DARPA days to their growing awareness that while this spin on artificial intelligence isn’t yet ready for rush-hour traffic, driverless cars are poised to remake how the world moves. Driven explores “the epic tale of competition and comradery, long odds and underdogs, all in service of a world-changing moonshot” (Andy Greenberg, author of Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar).

Commentators have argued for many years that law firms need to move forward from their traditional, seniority-based compensation systems. But it's not enough to simply add performance-related elements at the edges of these. Shifting generational-based attitudes; changing career aspirations; increasingly demanding clients; and pricing innovation and development in the range of benefits that can be offered (both financial and non-financial) all conspire to urge firms to rethink how their compensation system operates at all levels, across the whole firm. By reviewing these emerging factors, Compensation Innovation: An in-depth exploration into the future of law firm compensation aims to inspire law firms towards future proofing their compensation systems so that they continue to deliver results as their partnerships age. Exploring also the interplay between compensation and succession planning, and compensation and lateral hiring, the authors keep one eye to the future.

Client experience (CX) is by no means a new concept. Ever since the service industry came into being, providing excellent customer service has been a key concern, with particular focus on how the client experiences the service they are receiving. Yet, client experience is rarely delivered well. Inconsistencies, errors, and an endlessly unanswered phone lead to frustration on the part of the client, and a feeling that they are worth little more than a signature on the monthly timesheet. So, how do law firms, and individual lawyers, ensure they exceed expectations, and deliver the best customer experience possible? And what benefits - tangible and intangible - does this bring? Innovations in Client Experience brings together a collection of global contributors, giving their thoughts and advice on how the legal profession can up its game in client experience, offering innovative strategies and pragmatic advice to those law firms concerned they need to improve their CX.

Created by programmers from the mid-90s onwards and launched by technology disruptors in 2008 on the back of the biggest corporate failings in trust and honesty the modern world has seen, Blockchain collects facts as diverse as Wikipedia and churns them out as randomly as Alexa in a playschool. Heralded as the next big thing, blockchain has the potential to radically change the way lawyers work, and even threaten their very existence. So, what is it, and how does it work? This book, featuring opinions and experience from some of the most knowledgeable thought leaders on the subject, aims to cut through the hype and explore the many different facets of blockchain, and what it will mean for the legal profession.

Innovation. How to go about it, what it can do for your business - what even is it? Can innovation be applied in the legal environment? Such is the interest and appetite for legal innovation that, in the last 18 months, ARK has published over a dozen titles with innovation in their remit, covering everything from knowledge management to pricing, from marketing to recruitment, and everything in between. This compilation deep-dives into the key areas that drive innovation forward in the legal profession, combining the views and experiences of 14 leaders in their fields.

Much has been written about the pace of change facing the legal industry - how certain law firm functions are being replaced by artificial intelligence and new types of service providers, how accounting firms are looking to absorb and replace law firms, and how merging into worldwide mega firms of 3,000 to 10,000 lawyers is the only way to survive. Steve Jobs and others have called this evolution "creative destruction". Richard Susskind referred to it years ago as "the end of lawyers". It is true that the legal market is facing massive change. Technology, new ways of working, alternative methods of billing, and highly disruptive new entrants have all made their mark on the traditional legal business model. The Future of Law Firm Business Models takes a look at all these trends and more, horizon-scanning for future developments, and the ways in which these issues will fundamentally change the market.

A useful toolkit in the implementation of the ISO's new standard in Knowledge Management. The International Standards Organization (ISO) recently published it's first standard on knowledge management. This book looks at global examples of best practice in KM, and discusses how the Standard is helping embed these principles into successful organizations.

Although women comprise nearly half of all law students and incoming associates at law firms, and have done so for many years, they remain greatly outnumbered by men at senior levels. If nothing is done to change this trend, the percentage of women equity partners will remain under 20 percent for decades to come.Slow progress in gender equality at senior roles raises awkward questions for the industry – and highlights the challenges that women lawyers face when developing their careers.Indeed, at mid-career, when earnings peak, the top 10 percent of female lawyers earn more than $300,000 a year, while the top 10 percent of male lawyers earn more than $500,000. Coupled with this, the number of female equity partners at top US law firms has risen by only five percent in the last 12 years. Although women comprise 47 percent of associate ranks at law firms, female lawyers make up only 31 percent of those entering the equity partnership class.This book is for women, by women – to help female lawyers progress their careers in an industry still struggling with gender equality.Written by outstanding women lawyers in their respective fields, each contribution takes a personal and professional view of the legal sector, providing insight and analysis of issues as diverse as flexible working, portfolio careers, unconscious bias and the modern career trajectory.The book is split into four sections, and begins with the results of original research undertaken by ARK Group in early 2019. Surveying 100 women lawyers from across the globe, we asked women at all stages in their careers to open up about their experiences, from recruitment to retirement, and the challenges – and opportunities – that being female has brought. The results make for interesting, and perhaps surprising, reading.

Innovation is arguably an integral part of the knowledge management function and KM practice – as a popular “buzzword” over the past few years, and in the fast changing business world of today, it has become the mainstay of professional service organizations. The complexity of innovation increases with the growth in knowledge available to organizations, and with this comes the need to determine its place in business. Tomorrow’s KM: Innovation, best practice and the future of knowledge management focuses on the relationship between innovation and KM, elaborating on the role of KM as the facilitator and enabler of change. Consisting of in-depth case studies and insight from experts within varied fields, this book offers some contextual trendspotting and a general overview of the market. In order to “innovate”, one needs to know what it actually means. What is innovation and how does it relate to KM? Where does it start and end within the organization? How do you find out what you need to know in order to innovate?

Mid-sized law firms in today’s legal marketplace are often given three choices: merge, grow, or die. That’s accepted wisdom. Mid-sized firms may try to compete for profitable corporate litigation, deals and other bread-and-butter work, but everyone knows they (1) don’t have the IT and other systems heft to innovate with the big players (2) don’t have the scale to market and compete for global business and (3) can’t attract the talent they need to go head-to-head with Big Law on major work.But what if that’s wrong? What if mid-sized firms are in an ideal position to fix what’s wrong with law practice today? Competitive Strategies for Mid-Sized Law Firms – a collection of essays by and about mid-sized firms – offers a new perspective.

The Lawyer’s Guide to the Future of Practice Management provides law firm leaders with expert opinion on the very latest guidance and market knowledge on what today’s legal marketplace might look like tomorrow, organized into four crucial areas of practice management – technology, people and culture, finance and strategy – before taking a horizon-scan of the future, and what law firms need to be aware of in the coming months and years.

For decades, companies in other industries have refined techniques to better understand their customers’ needs, uncover insights, and develop new-to-the-world ideas, which are now products and services we use every day. Organisations have concluded that successfully adopting these methods, known as Design Thinking, have greater financial returns than pursuing more traditional ways of operating. As the legal industry grapples with increased complexity, accelerated market deadlines, and budget constraints, design thinking holds promise to create a more delightful client experience while also increasing profitability. This book features insights from leading experts in the field.

With barely a week going by without news that yet another chief innovation officer has taken up residence in a global law firm, it’s clear innovation is still a hot topic, continuing to grow and expand in terms of its reach within law firms. However, despite rapid advancement in recent years, it’s generally acknowledged that legal is behind the curve in terms of innovation compared to the rest of the corporate world. It’s also generally assumed that innovation relates purely to technology – meaning none but the largest companies with the deepest pockets can benefit from it. This insightful book features contributions from legal firms doing innovative things in all aspects of the field, going beyond the enabling technology – from partnering with clients to productizing services, developing external alliances, transforming the talent management function, to encouraging lawyers to invest billable time in new innovative approaches to the business and practice of law – as well as approaches to dealing with market disruption itself.

Recent years have witnessed growing concern internationally in wellbeing and mental health across the legal community, a shift reflected in a host of initiatives, networks, reports and research studies. Changes to working patterns, generational shifts, and an increased interest in overall wellbeing have contributed to a growing movement towards better working practices – across all industries but particularly in high pressure professions such as law. The genesis of the lawyer wellbeing movement in the United States has spread to the UK, EU, Canada and Australia. In this opening chapter, Bree Buchanan, chair of the ABA Commission, covers the 2016 research regarding lawyer and law student impairment that served as the catalyst for creating the National Task Force on Lawyer Wellbeing. From this coalition of national organizations came the 2017 Report, which in turn launched a wide variety of national and state policy and practice innovations. Bree summarizes a snapshot of those developments.

If we could know in 2020 what we will know in 2025 (only five foreseeable years into the future), how would we change our attitudes, actions, and the way in which we practice law, the services we offer, the clients we target, and the ways in which we choose to deliver our services? Indeed - if we could have known a year ago the events of the first three months in 2020, what might we have done to prepare? The American writer and humorist, Mark Twain, advised: "When everybody is out digging for gold, the business to be in is selling shovels!" So, what foreseeable trend may represent the figurative "shovel" that every client will need tomorrow?

Pandemics bring the world to a standstill. All economies are based on confidence, yet during and after a pandemic, uncertainty and fear abound. The entire professional services sector the world over – which includes law firms, accounting firms, brokerages, consulting firms, etc. – are cash-based, people-centric, and relationship-driven businesses. The rapid changes to relationships – both professional and personal – caused by a pandemic are structural and deep. The definition of “business as usual” is altered, and all professional services providers need to adapt and change quickly to respond to the new ways that employees, clients, and everyone else will behave, communicate, buy, and use their services in the future. The speed at which information travels will not slow down.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed working practices across the globe. It has been predicted that as much as 80 percent of the legal workforce will remain transient or permanently working from home after the COVID-19 crisis ends, with only around a fifth as full-time office workers. Although law firms typically weather downturns better than the overall economy, revenues, working practices, and working culture will all change.The expected economic downturn may not directly translate into a decline for professional services, as market difficulties, regulatory responses, stimulus programs, changes in employment, and other stressors provide potential sources of demand – particularly in the legal sector.What is clear is that personnel issues will come to the fore, and law firm leaders will have to respond proactively, both to mitigate risk and to make the best of a challenging and changing situation.Transitioning from an industry famed for office working to one that is more responsive, flexible and individualistic will provide as many opportunities as it will challenges.

Why this report, why now? We began 2020 in bright spirits and bountiful economic conditions; by early March all that had changed. Economic adjustments were made and, overall, firms ended the year in much better shape than their spring worst-case projections anticipated. Some firms were even close to their original 2020 profit expectations to date – largely due to quick actions to curtail expenditures as COVID-19 got underway in the US. Adjusting the Numbers: The Future of Finance in Law Firms looks back at a year like no other in our lifetimes, highlighting pricing, budgeting, strategic planning and people management principles, and identifying good compensation practices that can be applied during the pandemic, its gradual cessation, and beyond. Unique selling points:First title to look at financial performance post-COVID, focusing on pricing, compensation, financing, KPIs and partner management.

Pandemics bring the world to a standstill. All economies are based on confidence, yet during and after a pandemic, uncertainty and fear abound. The entire professional services sector the world over - which includes law firms, accounting firms, brokerages, consulting firms, etc. - are cash-based, people-centric, and relationship-driven businesses. The rapid changes to relationships - both professional and personal - caused by a pandemic are structural and deep. The definition of "business as usual" is altered, and all professional services providers need to adapt and change quickly to respond to the new ways that employees, clients, and everyone else will behave, communicate, buy, and use their services in the future. The speed at which information travels will not slow down.

Pandemics bring the world to a standstill. All economies are based on confidence, yet during and after a pandemic, uncertainty and fear abound. The entire professional services sector the world over - which includes law firms, accounting firms, brokerages, consulting firms, etc. - are cash-based, people-centric, and relationship-driven businesses. The rapid changes to relationships - both professional and personal - caused by a pandemic are structural and deep. The definition of "business as usual" is altered, and all professional services providers need to adapt and change quickly to respond to the new ways that employees, clients, and everyone else will behave, communicate, buy, and use their services in the future. The speed at which information travels will not slow down.

A useful toolkit in the implementation of the ISO''s new standard in Knowledge Management. The International Standards Organization (ISO) recently published it''s first standard on knowledge management. This book looks at global examples of best practice in KM, and discusses how the Standard is helping embed these principles into successful organizations.

A useful toolkit in the implementation of the ISO''s new standard in Knowledge Management. The International Standards Organization (ISO) recently published it''s first standard on knowledge management. This book looks at global examples of best practice in KM, and discusses how the Standard is helping embed these principles into successful organizations.

Although women comprise nearly half of all law students and incoming associates at law firms, and have done so for many years, they remain greatly outnumbered by men at senior levels. If nothing is done to change this trend, the percentage of women equity partners will remain under 20 percent for decades to come. Slow progress in gender equality at senior roles raises awkward questions for the industry - and highlights the challenges that women lawyers face when developing their careers. Indeed, at mid-career, when earnings peak, the top 10 percent of female lawyers earn more than $300,000 a year, while the top 10 percent of male lawyers earn more than $500,000. Coupled with this, the number of female equity partners at top US law firms has risen by only five percent in the last 12 years. Although women comprise 47 percent of associate ranks at law firms, female lawyers make up only 31 percent of those entering the equity partnership class. This book is for women, by women - to help female lawyers progress their careers in an industry still struggling with gender equality. Written by outstanding women lawyers in their respective fields, each contribution takes a personal and professional view of the legal sector, providing insight and analysis of issues as diverse as flexible working, portfolio careers, unconscious bias and the modern career trajectory. The book is split into four sections, and begins with the results of original research undertaken by ARK Group in early 2019. Surveying 100 women lawyers from across the globe, we asked women at all stages in their careers to open up about their experiences, from recruitment to retirement, and the challenges - and opportunities - that being female has brought. The results make for interesting, and perhaps surprising, reading.