Media Kit
Adam Korga — systems, failures, and BS detection.
Author Positioning / Short Bio
I write about what happens when code, human behavior, and organizational structures collide — and why the result so often breaks in production. My work looks at failure across systems: from distributed databases and infrastructure to corporate hierarchies and everyday communication loops.
I don’t sell silver bullets or comforting narratives. I dissect mechanisms: incentives that rot culture from the inside, complexity that collapses production at scale, and cognitive traps that make smart people build very dumb things. I translate engineering reality for “normal people” — and point out the absurdities professionals learn to accept as normal.
The Core 5
The pillars of my work and writing.
BS Detection
Decoding corporate and industry jargon — translating marketing newspeak into actual mechanisms and constraints.
Systemic Thinking
The world loves to rhyme. Different domains often share the same underlying mechanics — I show how to spot them and think across systems.
Failure Analysis
In a world obsessed with positive thinking, I focus on errors — because that’s where the data needed for real progress lives.
Radical Simplicity
A working rule: if you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough — complexity should clarify, not obscure.
Human Factor
Technology is usually the easy part. Incentives, behavior, and communication are where systems actually break.
What I Talk About
Key themes for interviews, panels, and articles.
Reliability Engineering
Why systems fail in production — and why most fixes target symptoms, not causes.
Failure & Mistake Analysis
Engineering disasters, cognitive traps, and historical failures (beyond IT) — not for shock value, but for understanding.
Organizational Culture
How structures, KPIs, and career mechanics quietly sabotage good engineering.
Education “For Normal People”
Explaining complex topics without jargon, mysticism, or oversimplification.
Systems Thinking
Feedback loops, delays, unintended consequences — the same patterns across tech, society, and biology.
Popularization of Science
Making real mechanisms visible — without turning science into motivational posters.
Suggested Angles & Questions
- Why do we keep making the same mistakes in IT despite better tools?
- How does corporate structure dictate software architecture (Conway's Law)?
- What can developers learn from aviation or nuclear safety failures?
- How cognitive biases and thinking traps keep smart people repeating the same mistakes?
- Why is "simplifying" harder than "building complex things"?
- Is Agile dead, or did we just turn it into a bureaucracy?
- How do you explain "technical debt" to a CEO who only cares about quarterly results?
- Does humor belong in serious engineering and professional environments — and why it often works better than slides?
Downloads & Assets
High-res materials for press and content creators.
Author Photos
High-res photos for event organizers and press.
IT Dictionary
Assets for the main book.
Fuckup Almanac Series
A four-part journey through engineering disasters. We treat failures not as scandals, but as data—revealing how complex systems actually work (and why they stop).
Vol. 1: Foundations of the Digital World
When Logic, Time, and Trust Go Wrong
Vol. 2: Stuff We Built On Top
Complexity, Software Architecture, and Legacy
Need something specific or want to schedule an interview?
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