Callooh! Press
The Year of Corporate Software
A sharp, human tour of enterprise tool-tax and friction
Corporate software rarely fails in dramatic ways. It works just well enough to ship the quarter while quietly draining momentum—through mismatched permissions, dashboards that replace judgment, and "temporary" tools that never leave.
This book takes a clear, human look at that friction and what happens when AI arrives in the same environment—how it can either deepen the bureaucracy or help unwind it.
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About the book
A human tour through enterprise friction
The Year of Corporate Software looks at the invisible tax modern tooling charges on attention. It spends time with the realities of ticketing systems, identity and access management, procurement workflows, collaboration platforms, internal apps, and the dashboards that claim to measure progress—showing how good intentions slowly turn into bureaucracy.
Written for people who actually ship inside large organizations, it connects everyday annoyances to deeper causes: misaligned incentives, risk avoidance, unclear ownership, and the false comfort of process replacing trust. Along the way it explores how AI collides with those same structures—and how to introduce it without creating yet another layer of work.
If you've ever wondered whether the friction you feel in corporate software is just you—or whether the system itself has become unnecessarily complex—this book will feel familiar. And if you're responsible for bringing AI into that system, it offers a practical path toward making the next generation of tools actually work better than the last.
Details
Who it's for & what you'll explore
Who it's for
- Engineering leaders and managers running delivery inside enterprise systems
- Builders and tech leads navigating tool sprawl, approvals, and process drag
- Product/program leaders working across procurement, governance, and execution
- Anyone responsible for making the machine run — and making it run better
What you'll explore
- Enterprise tool-tax and the invisible cost of friction
- Why standardization becomes control (and how to prevent it)
- Incentives, risk avoidance, and process replacing judgment
- Identity/access, ticketing, procurement, collaboration platforms
- How temporary integrations become permanent
- Practical ways to simplify workflows and restore decision rights
Formats
Paperback and eBook available now. Audiobook coming later.
Early praise
Finally a leadership book that speaks the language of delivery. No generic advice—just stuff you can use Monday morning.
Available from Callooh! Press and major retailers
Paperback · eBook · In stock