Ruth Malan

We also use some of the (sensing, sense making, responding) scaffolding that appears in the Advent(ures) in System Seeing:

bsky.app/profile/ruth...

Preview material: (Socio-)Technical Decisions chapbook (pdf): ruthmalan.com/Leadership/T...

pages of student book (too small to read; just used for impression of thoughtful content)

We’re leading within complex, dynamically adaptive, sociotechnical systems. We explore what that means (theory, practice, implications).

Technical Leadership workshop

March 24 and 31, 2026, 12-3PM Eastern Time (US/Canada)

More info and to enroll: ti.to/bredemeyer/t...

"A main problem in the study of organizational change is that the environmental contexts in which organizations exist are themselves changing—at an increasing rate, under the impact of technological change. This means that they demand consideration for their own sake."

the top of the paper with title and authors (in the post) ‘Organizational environments differ in their causal texture, both as regards degree of uncertainty and in many other important respects. A typology is suggested that identifies four ‘‘ideal types"'

Next up in #PapersInSystems :

“The Causal Texture of Organizational Environments” by Fred E. Emery and Eric L. Trist (1965)

media.wiley.com/product_data...

Discussion will be led by @trond.hjorteland.com

Monday April 6, 1-2pm Eastern Time (US/Canada).

More info/sign up:
ti.to/bredemeyer/c...

“ Middle Tech, proves indispensable for demonstrating how the mundane but nevertheless consequential choices inside AI companies, indeed in all software companies, are made by engineers…” much love and thanks for putting my work among these wonderful reads.

Explore DDD 2026 Explore DDD 2026: Software Design Conference in Denver, Colorado, USA for Software Leaders. Practical, cutting-edge talks & workshops.

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.

If 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.

And suddenly! This is next month, and I’m so excited to get to work with @joannadenni.com !

And you?

The circular logic of our metrics We design what is familiar. The design patterns we adopt are the ones yelling at us the loudest.

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

back the kickstarter now, and surprise future you with a lovely treat!

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.

Mary Parker Follett - YouTube Lessons from a 1920s management thinker.

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

YouTube video by Tessa Violet Tessa Violet - Knowing (Official Music Video)

Hello, bluesky.... it's been a minute but I have some exciting news for the new year :) youtu.be/bU_-OhxcFVI?...

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!

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.