Dan Davies Reviews CRISIS ENGINEERING

m weaver

06 Mar 2026

Inestimable cyberneticist Dan Davies, author of THE UNACCOUNTABILITY MACHINE, and the "Back of Mind" blog/mailing list, reviewed our forthcoming book last Friday.

[...] there’s a new book coming out which I saw an advance copy of and which is now available for pre-order, and it’s really good.

You can read his full review here.

Crises are the only opportunity for rapid directed change in complex systems.

CRISIS ENGINEERING shows you how not to waste them.

The Five Indicators of Crisis

Our new book, Crisis Engineering, is about what actually happens when systems break under pressure and how to fix them. It comes out April 7, 2026, everywhere books are sold, as a paperback, and audiobook (read by Cassandra Campbell). For bulk orders below 500 copies, purchase on BulkBooks. For bulk

Crisis Engineering on ProdCast

The latest episode of ProdCast features Layer Aleph partner Carla Geisser, who gives a great overview of how to tell an incident from a crisis, and the 5 signs you may be in a useful crisis (including what to do if your cat wakes you up to invite you onto

A man-sized machine and a man-sized job are effectively handled by 21-year-old Virginia Grochowski of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The AI Layoffs

For most of the economy, the "AI" recession looks much like other recessions. That's good news for anxious policy-makers; at least they know what to expect. The much bigger hazard will be the financial wildfire that starts in the tech industry itself.

Crisis Engineering 101

Layer Aleph is a group of four people who each had success leading our own bands before we decided to work together. Each of us has worked on large complex systems for about 20 years, and as Layer Aleph, we have taken on around 30 consulting jobs that were interventions

Read more

The Five Indicators of Crisis

Crisis Engineering on ProdCast

The AI Layoffs

Crisis Engineering 101