A little bird told me something exciting… 🐦
Early Bird tickets for Explore DDD go on sale Feb 23. Only 25 will be released — and they can be combined with group discounts.
If DDD is part of your journey, this is your moment.
🎟️ https://exploreddd.com/
#DDD #ExploreDDD
Everyone is born curious. No one is born a good critical thinker.
21.02.2026 22:19 — 👍 29 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0If you are south of Batchelor this tornado is going to miss you. Expect that a tornado is likely still on the ground, moving directly into Bloomington.
20.02.2026 00:08 — 👍 53 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 1
And suddenly! This is next month, and I’m so excited to get to work with @joannadenni.com !
And you?
99% of stakeholder "ideas" is just copying a feature they saw on a competitor's product. And the features they notice most are the ones that yell at their users the loudest.
Now all software (not just consumer apps, but also metrics dashboards) yells at you, and trains you to attend to its yelling.
Chasing the sunset: Buttercup Festival 3-366
02.02.2026 22:13 — 👍 26 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0back the kickstarter now, and surprise future you with a lovely treat!
01.02.2026 00:25 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
8 more days of kickstarter, day 3 of countdown songs! dirty blonde started as a harp-accompanied piece in 2020, and it was finished in 2023 in a co-write with the amazing @patwhoisnice.bsky.social and purser :-)
www.kickstarter.com/projects/cop...
Design designs. Dispositions disposition.
15.01.2026 15:42 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I watched several of these yesterday, and its exciting - selections of quotes and observations, drawing out Follett's relevance to us in tech, today:
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
cover of Dynamic Administration a collection of papers by Mary Parker Follett
“we should remember that we can never wholly separate the human and the mechanical problem. This would seem too obvious to mention if we did not so often see that separation being made.”
— Mary Parker Follett, Development of Business Management, 1925
in
Hello, bluesky.... it's been a minute but I have some exciting news for the new year :) youtu.be/bU_-OhxcFVI?...
03.01.2026 01:48 — 👍 106 🔁 18 💬 4 📌 6
If we accept that building good software requires many disciplines to come together, then "what's the ROI of UX?" is a meaningless question.
When we attempt to organize based solely on "doing only the important work," categorizing "important" becomes politics, and you have to fight with politics.
This was a wonderful discussion — thank you @yvonnezlam.bsky.social and @johncutle.fish and everyone who participated! A big point of resonance is how much mutual appreciation there is for systems community!
05.01.2026 20:27 — 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The info/enroll link (it’s free, of course, but this allows managed admission):
ti.to/bredemeyer/c...
This is a *free* 150 page chapbook that explores systems, system design and software architecture.
And it’s … actually *good*??? Well, at least all the parts where I weave in this systems and design community’s insights are good. 😊
Last year’s System Seeing Journal Starter Kit is at:
www.ruthmalan.com/systems/2025...
These are like setting off on a journey in System Seeing/Understanding/Designing where we study the systems we work with(in), to learn about systems. But we start out with a guide, to help establish patterns.
I am working on a System Seeing Workbook, so I’m not turning the 2025 Advent(ure) in System Seeing prompts into a Journal Starter Kit (which I did the last 3 years).
If you’d like to use the advent prompts to help groove in a Systems Journaling practice, they’re at: www.ruthmalan.com/Advent.html
image made of pages of the workshop materials (too small to read; just there for the impression)
And since its the season for goal setting and planning, for consideration (and steep New Year discounts):
Technical Leadership Workshop:
March 24 and 31: ti.to/bredemeyer/t...
System Design and Software Architecture Workshop:
May 4-6 and May 11-13: ti.to/bredemeyer/s...
two pages of the zine, with commentary on the “draw a bicycle” exercises from the session. It characterizes systems in standard ways (parts and relationships) and adds emphasis on system behavior, properties, and identity that these give rise to
I did a hands-on session on System Seeing at each of those conferences, and the sessions evolved with each, culminating in a handout zine for SoCraTes Soltau that would have been good for all of them. Oh well, we are works-in-progress too. :)
Zine:
www.ruthmalan.com/Systems/2025...
Joy in work highlights? Some of the big ones included conferences where I got to meet many of the people I’d only met online.
These were great conferences that I’ll recommend for your 2026 in the most heartfelt terms:
ExploreDDD (@indu-alagarsamy.bsky.social)
@dddeu.bsky.social
SoCraTes Soltau
I also continued my self-assigned mission to bring attention to *systems* in system design. Including the various sociotechnical systems we balance (and make trade-offs, and effect consequences) across.
www.ruthmalan.com/systems/2025...
One of the highlights of 2025 for me?
Someone saying
“this was a really good read! i especially like the chaotic layout of the book 😂”
about my Technical Decisions chapbook
Because so true, but also… so not AI in its human quirks 😅
ruthmalan.com/Leadership/2...
Wow, this is important and practical research.
*And some call this a strawman argument.
It’s a vividly written, thought-provoking newsletter, engaging thoughtfully with the challenges we face in product design and related:
31.12.2025 13:45 — 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
This is a great short paper for these “page-turning” Janus days, reflecting on systems work, and discussing experiences, connections to other work, and approaches to the challenges.
@johncutle.fish has also written an extended version:
cutlefish.substack.com/p/20-things-...
Illustration by Viktor Cessan of John Cutler’s “Twenty Things I Learned as a Systems (Over)Thinker” with first set of images: 1. Take care of yourself. Your brain is working overtime — all the time. Practice “radical” recovery. And below the text is a drawing of a person looking glum, sitting cross-legged, and in their thought bubble there’s a cloud and lightning. The next image is the same person looking peaceful, with a lightbulb in the thought bubble.
First #PapersInSystems discussion of 2026:
Monday, January 5, 1-2PM Eastern Time (US/Canada):
"20 Things I Learned As A Systems (Over) Thinker" by @johncutle.fish
Here: www.linkedin.com/posts/johnpc...
Discussion will be led by @yvonnezlam.bsky.social
Info/enroll: ti.to/bredemeyer/c...
Copeland James is crowdfunding to bring this loveliness into the world.
Of course, in addition to Copeland’s everlasting gratitude, there’s mine. If you’ve ever thought “I’d like to buy ruth coffee,” here’s a way (pay it forward a gen).
Good enough wins because of what you are able to treat as externalities
29.12.2025 18:14 — 👍 43 🔁 17 💬 2 📌 1Most of the activities are even better done together with collaborators. And even then, some scouting ahead and giving it a try in a journal, is good…
24.12.2025 16:16 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
