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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Yvonne Lam @yvonnezlam.bsky.social · 14h

Years ago, someone who interviewed me for a job asked the question, "What is the thing you know you should care about but you don't, so someone else needs to?" I cannot remember what I said, but it's a fantastic question that I'm thinking about a lot in our current Age of Overwhelm.

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Jessica Kerr @jessitron.bsky.social · 4d

The work is not about simplifying the system, but about designing the connective tissue that enables complex organizations to act with coherence. - John Cutler (cuttlefish. What is his bluesky?)

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Grady Booch @booch.com · 19d

In each of these cases, those differences manifest themselves both in the design decision that shape the form and function of that system as well as the process and the organization of the team that creates it.

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 14h

In a week! Still some seats on flash sale. Join us?

See 👇 sample sections.

Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 8d

In two weeks:

System Design and Software Architecture Workshop:

Oct 20-22 and Oct 27-Oct 29, 2025 at 11 am - 3:30 pm Eastern Time (live remote)

Info/enroll: ti.to/bredemeyer/s...

Sample sections (think FREE pdf ebook):

www.ruthmalan.com/Bredemeyer/2...

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Nick Sousanis @nsousanis.bsky.social · 11d

Talking image-text relations in class today - great opportunity to share Ibn Al-Rabin's seminal “Le Verbe Prophétique” alongside the always brilliant @tomgauld.bsky.social to demonstrate how the seemingly simple can be bewilderingly complex - things that can only be done in comics!!

A six panel comic of a man and a woman where their word balloons are actually other panels (there are no words) indicating future actions and explaining why they did what they did.

a three panel comic about Søren Kierkegaard in which the text of the man reads backwards and the dog forwards "Life can only be understood backwards" and the dog "but it must be lived forwards"

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Nick Sousanis @nsousanis.bsky.social · 22d

Finished spread! The lives of different types of stars, the various ways they give back all they had taken in changed, and the new forms they give rise to! This took me some time to say the least! It's a lively place out there! On to the next spread (finale of this chapter!!)
#Nostos #Unflattening 2

a spread for a comics page, black background, with white panel borders and most the drawings white on black. upper left of the spread, a swirl of the start of a star - emanating out from it in radiating arms, a number of different paths in brick-like interconnected panel border shapes. First radiating down and to the left the life of a brown dwarf - which never quite becomes a start. the next branch goes mostly down - a red dwarf which burns longer than the current life of the universe, but the path forks near the bottom, because some of these alternately flare up during their life. the next path is a dwarf star - much like our own - which is stable until it puffs up late in its life, then burst off much of its material to become a white dwarf. Here the path forks - in one branch it lives on as a white dwarf and nebula, in the other, when it has a partner star, it steals material from it and eventually becomes a type 1A supernova. Overlaid a bit on this set of paths and the red dwarf is an example of a binary star system and a six star system. Emanating from the middle of these paths from upper left and going across the spine of the book to the lower right, is a path filled with galaxies - the path loses its border in the middle showing a collection of galaxies. Upper right path is a blue super giant as we move right it goes nova becoming in one forking path a black hole, in another a spinning neutron star - and that forks to either continue or if paired, collide to go supernova and create heavy elements. Middle of right side, molecules formed by chemistry with these atoms forged in stars. new swirls form, and then we see another generation of stars in a grid set of panels and the Planets! formed around them. This is a generational cycle and the text reflects that

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 16h

Congratulations to all!!

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 19h

checking in on your timeline for marathon updates :)

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 1d

Hope you’re having a lovely time!

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 1d

you’re in IL??

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 2d

And we need to get November 3 signup/info page up:

Bracken Mosbacker has summarized, and will lead discussion on: Eric von Hippel's MIT lectures on: How to Develop Breakthrough Products and Services (User-Driven innovation)

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Yvonne Lam @yvonnezlam.bsky.social · 2d

highly recommend @ruthmalan.bsky.social's Papers in Systems. We haven't updated the website in a minute, but our monthly virtual meetups have restarted after the summer break:

papersin.systems/about

About

A friendly, virtual journal club

papersin.systems

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 2d

💜

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 6d

ahem

30tgrs.ffm.to/coldatnight-...

The Mountain Goats - Cold at Night / Rocks in My Pockets

Choose your preferred music service

30tgrs.ffm.to

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 6d

and don’t imagine me happy about this part ;)

Frank Garrett @frankgarrett.online · 6d

I saved this from Tumblr just yesterday bc I needed it.

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 6d

It was so good to see you again—you bring so much to the discussions!

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 6d

The “et al” is such an amazing community! For those who weren’t able to join us: the paper is a valuable read and the discussion was so vibrant and engaging, we were a minute over before I even looked at the clock :D

Thank you @rebeccawb.bsky.social , @mathiasverraes.bsky.social and everyone there

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 6d

Discussion today will be interesting — illustrating examining models, with the following examples:

hierarchical, social network, and the value creation (as organizing model)

and

the Spotify Model, the Agile Fluency Model, and Team Topologies.

Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 7d

Discussion will be led by @rebeccawb.bsky.social and @mathiasverraes.bsky.social

Also, for those who can stay on after the hour, there is a further 30 minutes of “hallway chat.”

All of which makes for a place to have a focused discussion, and some time to range further, and connect.

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Yvonne Lam @yvonnezlam.bsky.social · 7d

People who work on big software systems, you need to read this set of branching convos/threads.

👻madeline boOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 7d

There’s a secret underground room at the Bodleian Library where they were installing a new boiler system and the old one was too hard to remove so they just bricked up the entire room and then dug a new underground room somewhere else

Nicole Guenther Discenza @ndiscenza1.bsky.social · 7d

The same addition had a water heater closet built around the water heater—stop me if I've told you this one before. It was a holiday weekend when the heater went, and the plumber couldn't remove the busted one
He installed a new, smaller one and pushed the old one to one side.

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 13d

“Every model makes a choice about what is important, what categories we classify things in, what we see, what’s invisible, what’s valued, or even what’s valid.“
— @rebeccawb.bsky.social and @mathiasverraes.bsky.social

from the paper we’re discussing on Monday, Oct 6 👇

Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 29d

Next in the #PapersInSystems Discussion Series:

Critically Engaging with Models, by @rebeccawb.bsky.social
and @mathiasverraes.bsky.social

When: October 6th, 2025, 1–2pm Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Paper: wirfs-brock.com/rebecca/blog...

More info/Sign-up: ti.to/bredemeyer/p...

Rebecca’s Web – Critically Engaging With Models

Rebecca Wirfs-Brock On the Web

wirfs-brock.com

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Ian Coldwater 👻🌿 @lookitup.baby · 16d

Children should be seen and heard.

Mik | Graphic Designer + Strategist @oksoboom.blacksky.app · 16d

I was supposed to teach an 8th grade class of girls for a week about my work and navigating as a Black female entrepreneur. But when I got to talk to them, we spent most classes just chatting about self esteem, their family life, etc.

Almost all of them said nobody ever listens to them.

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 8d

In two weeks:

System Design and Software Architecture Workshop:

Oct 20-22 and Oct 27-Oct 29, 2025 at 11 am - 3:30 pm Eastern Time (live remote)

Info/enroll: ti.to/bredemeyer/s...

Sample sections (think FREE pdf ebook):

www.ruthmalan.com/Bredemeyer/2...

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Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 8d

Monday! Join us?

Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 29d

Next in the #PapersInSystems Discussion Series:

Critically Engaging with Models, by @rebeccawb.bsky.social
and @mathiasverraes.bsky.social

When: October 6th, 2025, 1–2pm Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Paper: wirfs-brock.com/rebecca/blog...

More info/Sign-up: ti.to/bredemeyer/p...

Rebecca’s Web – Critically Engaging With Models

Rebecca Wirfs-Brock On the Web

wirfs-brock.com

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Reposted by Ruth Malan

Margaret Mitchell @mmitchell.bsky.social · 8d

This.

Ryan J. Gallagher @ryanjgallag.com · 9d

I think Bluesky is building dated approaches to moderation and resolution, compared to how modern the other aspects of the protocol feel

It feels like they pull in the latest tech innovations for the protocol, but none of the latest cutting edge ideas for moderation and trust & safety governance

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