In the second episode of this season of Satisfying Software, I talk with @kenny.weave-it.org on domains, subdomains, bounded contexts. What are they, what is the difference between them en when do we need which one? (We also talk about naming things) [1/2]

Really looking forward to this discussion on Monday April 6th! @trond.hjorteland.com brings his background as an active practitioner and curious inquirer into sociotechnical and open systems, and it’s already a lovely group who have indicated interest! We’d love to have you join us :)

"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."

I added this BF to a closing page of the Technical Leadership workshop materials (for tomorrow), so here I am signaling intent so @buttercupfestival.bsky.social can stop me if that's a no. :) (The page also mentions Nivia Henry) Buttercup Festival Source: www.buttercupfestival.com/3-293.htm

The #PlatformEngineeringDay greatness at the #KubeCon #CloudNativeCon doesn't stop: now we got @hazelweakly.me talking about building extensible platforms! Things usually go this way: Strong components → system → complexity → components → ... Is the cycle unavoidable?

Landscape Features xkcd.com/3221/

📖 A Conversation with Mathias Verraes, the founder of DDD Europe, on 10 years of Domain-Driven Design: buff.ly/EYVCB3M

Upcoming workshop: a socio-technical systems-informed approach to leadership One avenue we take: identify forces acting on a situation, develop alternatives and identify their consequences, and explore what our options are, when the organizational aspects of all that are.. tricky to navigate…

This one.

Safety Nerds, read the thread.

Noting for clarity that a lot of people working in software, including software engineers and designers, have a bad understanding of the software design process.

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."

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.

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.

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

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.

“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?...

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!

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. 😊

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:

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

The Big Idea is short bursts of daily practice, sketching and writing in a Systems Adventure Journal. Through these practices and related reflections, we learn about systems, and as we turn our focus to particular situations, systems become a partner in our learning journey.

Here’s a demo of one of the songs that will be on the album, as well as testimonials I have received from my song commission work! If you would like to commission a song and help fund this album project, you can learn more here :) www.kickstarter.com/projects/cop...

Love this picture from Ray Ison’s book. The people in the system bring their own personal history of thinking and understanding.

Give future you a lovely gift! (Help fund recording expenses now, get digital download later. Be part of making something lovely happen.)

"I use the word system to refer to any collection of elements that, through preferential interactions between them, generate a boundary with respect to other elements with which they can also interact in such a way that a totality results" -- Humberto Maturana

Birds: Buttecup Festival 3-356

The mossy stream: Buttercup Festival 3-358

Points to CLDs by @hibri.net, @chrissimon.au

The first one I added was @spydergrrl.bsky.social's Workshop Alchemy. The cool thing about a workshop is it's just a meeting with rules. Tanya gives great advice for implementing rules that make your meetings productive (instead of time wasters for everyone concerned) and making decisions stick.

I'm 4 days late, but Ruth's Advent(ure) in System Seeing is a brilliant exploration of systems thinking for beginners or experts, and you can catch up easily.

“Zines are back, baby” — @spavel.bsky.social

Rich Pictures are sketches of situations that include people in swirls of interactions. They’re not in any “standardized” format, and they don’t have “analytical” features like numbers on interactions…They are “earlier” than Domain Stories. But their very informality is useful in exploring the space

Day 3 #AdventOfSystemSeeing I’ll tap off on Advent(ure) of System Seeing self-boosts as we get further into it, but for now it’s still early days, and there’s a chance folk would still like to hear that there’s a Systemsy advent(ure) :) Today: Futures Wheel

Specifically: Bainbridge (Ironies of Automation) and Naur (Programming as Theory Building)

This one is fascinating…still think about a recent post about bikes and science… www.cbc.ca/news/science... > In reality, we know precious little about how the bicycle actually works, beyond the basic mechanics of "pedal turns gear that turns wheel."