Ruth Malan
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ruthmalan.bsky.social
Ruth Malan
@ruthmalan.bsky.social
3K followers 1.1K following 580 posts
Systems. Design.

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ruthmalan.bsky.social
And since it’s the gifting season, or to use 2025 budget:

the next remote Technical Leadership workshop is March 24 and 31, 2026, 12-3PM Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday sale 🎉

More info and to enroll: ti.to/bredemeyer/t...
cover of Technical Leadership book first page of the decisions module which is linked in post above
November 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
And

December 2 and December 9, 2025, at 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Technical Leadership Workshop (remote)

Limited availability; Small Business seasonal sale 🎉

More info/Enroll: ti.to/bredemeyer/t...

Preview module:
Technical Decisions: ruthmalan.com/Leadership/2...
banner image is collage of pages (too small to read) from workshop materials
November 28, 2025 at 7:17 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Last year’s booklet is also on LI in carousel form, if you’d prefer to click pages (or download from) there: www.linkedin.com/posts/ruth-m...

One person observed that it’s like doing a workshop, but it’s one where we let the situation/system of interest (and our own reflection) be the teacher.
a page of the prompt workbook on LI
November 16, 2025 at 10:42 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
The next #PapersInSystems discussion is Monday Dec 1, 1-2pm Eastern, Josh Reynolds will lead, and the paper is "The Architecture of Complexity" by Herbert Simon.

More info/sign up (free of course): ti.to/bredemeyer/a...
Some quotes to tease the appetite for reading this 1962 paper: "Metaphor and analogy can be helpful, or they can be misleading. All depends on whether the similarities the metaphor captures are significant or superficial." "In such systems, the whole is more than the sum of the parts, not in an ultimate, metaphysical sense, but in the important pragmatic sense that, given the properties of the parts and the laws of their interaction, it is not a trivial matter to infer the properties of the whole. In the face of complexity, an in-principle reductionist may be at the same time a pragmatic holist." "Most physical and biological hierarchies are described in spatial terms. We detect the organelles in a cell in the way we detect the raisins in a cake — they are “visibly” differentiated substructures localized spatially in the larger structure. On the other hand, we propose to identify social hierarchies not by observing who lives close to whom but by observing who interacts with whom. These two points of view can be reconciled by defining hierarchy in terms of intensity of interaction, but observing that in most biological and physical systems relatively intense interaction implies relative spatial propinquity.”
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
“this was a really good read! i especially like the chaotic layout of the book 😂”

Still chuckling because … not wrong haha.

About my technical decisions chapbook

www.linkedin.com/posts/bjorn-...
page with 3 columns of notes page with column of quotes and column of notes
October 30, 2025 at 5:28 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Systems zines! These are so darned cute (iissms)!

Adventures in Systems (pdf: www.ruthmalan.com/Systems/2025...)

BASIC from @danklyn.bsky.social
(via understandinggroup.com/basic)

What else you got?
tiny zines on a kraft notebook (which itself is 5x8)
October 21, 2025 at 1:22 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Come for THE ULTIMATE SYSTEM DESIGN RESOURCE

stay for the WRY HUMOR

www.linkedin.com/posts/ruth-m...
That Calvin and Hobbes! Which? The one where Calvin: The more you know, the harder it is to take decisive action Calvin: Once you become informed, you start seeing complexities and shades of grey Calvin: You realize that nothing is as clear and simple as it first appears. Ultimately, knowledge is paralyzing Calvin (tossing book): Being a man of action, I can’t afford to take that risk. Hobbes: You’re ignorant. But at least you act on it.
October 17, 2025 at 3:43 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
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...
cover of the linked ebook
October 4, 2025 at 4:36 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
And I draw on Mary Parker Follett’s work; it’s from ~100 years ago, but not only deserves a place in the formative history of the system design (and leadership) field, but in the discourse that helps shape our understanding and approaches today.
page from material linked upthread, with quotes: The "Law of the Situation" "Our job [..] how to devise methods by which we can best discover the order integral to a particular situation." DYNAMIC ADMINISTRATION - Mary Parker Follett "understand the situation, must see it as a whole, must see the interrelation of all the parts [..] must do more than this. He [sic] must see the evolving situation, the developing situation. His wisdom, his judgment, is used, not on a situation that is stationary, but on one that is changing all the time." — Mary Parker Follett, 'The Giving of Orders' "That's always our problem, not how to get control of people, but how all together we can get control of a situation." — Mary Parker Follett
September 26, 2025 at 4:34 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Of course, my backlog only grows. Like, looking at this page, I’m reminded I want to weave in @dianamontalion.com ‘s example of “carboat” in this context.

My backlog? Includes some vivid @spavel.bsky.social and

“Architecture is relationship therapy for software systems” — @dianamontalion.com
page of workshop slidedoc/ebook from link upthread. picture: planes designed with focus of one stakeholder group — eg when design for the maintenance group, it has lots of access points for maintenance quote: "The most important thing to remember about unity is — that there is no such thing. There is only unifying." - Mary Parker Follett*
September 26, 2025 at 4:15 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
There are many wonderful quotes, like this one from @dianamontalion.com
"Relationships produce effects. Software becomes a system of software when "parts together" achieve something that could not exist without the "together" part. When "parts together" no longer fit our circumstances, we usually can't simply change a piece of software. We need to change the way software interrelates." — Diana Montalion, Learning Systems Thinking
September 26, 2025 at 3:59 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
"Architecture represents the significant design decisions that shape a system, where significant is measured by cost of change."
- @booch.com

This quote is used to guide an exploration of software architecture and system design in the workshop, and material shared:

www.linkedin.com/posts/ruth-m...
page with Grady Booch quote, that is used as a “flywheel” giving impetus to the elaboration of software architecture as (a key area of) system design
September 26, 2025 at 3:55 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
An "alum" of my workshops (💜) was asking when the next open enrollment Technical Leadership Workshop will be, and I realized I haven't run one all year! So, it's scheduled!

50% early enrollment discount.

Dec 2 and 9, 2025, 12PM - 3PM Eastern Time

More info/Enroll: ti.to/bredemeyer/t...
banner image made of pages from the materials (pages there for impression only, as they are too small to read)
September 12, 2025 at 2:32 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Yes, yes!! This Merrelyn Emery!

On the back page of the Seeing Systems session zine:

(pdf)
www.ruthmalan.com/Systems/2025...
Merrelyn Emery: diagram of system changing and being changed by its immediate context, and broader environment. "What we care about is the productive life, and the first test of the productive power of the collective life is its nourishment of the individual. The second test is whether the contributions of individuals can be fruitfully united" — Mary Parker Follett
August 21, 2025 at 3:57 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Also, Merrelyn Emery is in LI, for those who are interested:

www.linkedin.com/posts/merrel...
From a LinkedIn post by Merrelyn Emery: I have noticed that several people are still talking about sociotechnical systems. It is true that the birth of sociotechnical systems with the work of Trist & Bamforth (1951) revolutionized the field of organizations but much water has flowed under the bridge since then. The discovery of the genotypical design principles by Fred Emery in 1967 and the subsequent incorporation of these principles into the quick and efficient method of the Participative Design Workshop
August 21, 2025 at 3:23 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Also:

the System Seeing Journal starter kit (that some followed as part of a daily discipline in system perceiving-learning back in December):
www.ruthmalan.com/systems/2025...
Table of Contents Day 1: Draw a bicycle db (p 5) Day 2: Draw your org th (p 6) Intermezzo: Drawing to see (p 8) Day 3: Explore system concepts 0 (p 9) Day 4: Russ Ackoff on systems (p 10) Intermezzo: Systems (p 11) Day 5: Attending more closely • (p 12) Day 6: Describe focal situation (p 13) Day 7: Context scan (p 14) Day 8: Sketch the situation (p 15) Day 9: Practice empathy (p 16) Day 10: Circle of cares and concerns (p 17) Intermezzo: Sensemaking and Framing (p 18) Day 11: Narrative history: unwinding threads (p 19) Day 12: Graphical history: how we got here (p 20) Intermezzo: History (p 21) Day 13: Name the moves 1! (p 22) Day 14: What's changing? + (p 23) Day 15: What if you do nothing? (p 24) Intermezzo: Co-Evolution (p 25)
August 13, 2025 at 3:19 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Sample sections (Free pdf ebooks to share):

Systems, System Design and Software Architecture: www.ruthmalan.com/Bredemeyer/2...

Architecture Principles: www.ruthmalan.com/systems/2025...
6. Architecture Principles: What's ahead 7. Principles: what are they (to us)? 8. Principled Principles: expression of values 9. Guiding Principles: expression of experience 10. Gothic Architecture: System Purpose and Framing Problem 11. Gothic Architecture: Principles Express a General Technical Solution 12. Examples of principles: Sociotechnical Design 13. Examples of principles: Ostrom's principles for Managing Commons 14. Architecture Principles: Express Shaping Intention 15. Architecture Principles in System Design: Constrain and Scaffold 16. Principles: Why? Foster Conceptual Integrity 17. Conceptual Integrity: to effect fit, coherence and wholeness 18. Principles: Why? Expressions of Strategy: guiding policy in response to strategic diagnosis 19. Principles: How? Principles work by fostering conversations and directing attention 20. Show me! Examples of Architectural Principles: TOGAF 21. Show me! Classic Examples of Architectural Principles: Fred Brooks and Project Stretch Principles 22. Show me! Classics: Unix Principles 23. Show me! Classics: VisiCalc Design Principles 24. Show me! Current Examples 25. Show me! Current Examples: Rudder API Principles 26. Show me! Current Examples: Technical Neutrality (and Counterargument) 27. Principles: How? Guidelines 28. Principles: How? Netflix: Start with System Challenges 29. Principles: How? Netflix: Principle 30. Principles: How? More Examples (this time Market Facing) 31. Principles: How? More Guidelines 32. Try it: Dependencies 33. Try it: Resilience 34. Try it: Team exercise 33. Try it: Resilience
August 13, 2025 at 3:10 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
System Design and Software Architecture Workshop: Sept 22-24 and Sept 29-Oct 1, 2025 at 11 am - 3:30 pm Eastern Time; remote (zoom, miro, slack)

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

Enroll soon for early bird pricing.
cover of student ebook for the workshop. In the spirit of “insides make their way to outsides” (Barbara Tversky), it has a composite image of some of the pages of the workbook, and covers of Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows and Design It! by Michael Keeling.
August 13, 2025 at 3:04 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
It’s pretty cool that this turns into a little booklet with just 4 folds and a cut!

(Yes, I still need to research who came up with that!)
the zine before folding
July 25, 2025 at 5:33 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
The Adventures in Systems handout zine from SoCraTes Soltau:

Formatted for 11x17 www.ruthmalan.com/Systems/2025...

Formatted for A3
www.ruthmalan.com/Systems/2025...

Folding instructions: www.flickr.com/photos/withj...
some of the pages of the zine to show what it looks like when folder
July 24, 2025 at 6:57 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
This ok to use with attribution here? (It’s a zine handout for a hands-on session—after folk give the exercise a go themselves.)
July 9, 2025 at 3:44 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Going through the materials that made it with me so far, deciding what weight to ditch before more traveling. I tossed out several of these before the DDDEU hands on (worried they were too distracting in short bursts of practice)
concept cards (fronts) and practices (on the back) example: Concept: System Boundary Practice: Domain Story
July 6, 2025 at 1:34 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Looking forward to SoCraTes Soltau and another 2 hour hands on session during the preconference training day.

This is the 3rd permutation in a run that began at Explore DDD, followed by DDDEU.
Adventures in Systems zine with SoCraTes logo
July 6, 2025 at 12:45 PM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
In system design we move fluidly between wholes in contexts, parts and relationships, insides and outsides, forces impinging from the context and forces emerging from the system. We think holistically sometimes, but drill into, to further understand, zoom back out, backtrack if we need to..
from a page of first linked document (upthread) Nonlinear Exploration In system design and architecture we are moving fluidly between wholes in contexts, parts and relationships, insides and outsides, forces impinging from the context and forces emerging from the system, etc. We're thinking holistically sometimes, but drilling into, to further understand, zooming back out, and backtracking if we need to. "This instinct to subdivide complex systems dominated scientific inquiry, and it advanced a framework that attempted to reorganize nature into deceptively simple components. This was the logic of reductionism, a way of thinking that can be traced at least as far back as Aristotle. Reductionism analyzed complicated things (bicycles, cities, humans) by breaking them down into distinct parts (wheels and gears, streets and people, organs and cells). In theory, everything is the sum of its parts. So if you understand those parts, you understand the whole." - Mark Bittman We need to think in terms of parts and relationships (to cope, as our systems become more complex) and in terms of what emerges from the dynamic interactions not just among parts, but systems in (broader) contexts.
June 26, 2025 at 7:57 AM
ruthmalan.bsky.social
Before vacation season sets in, and while early bird pricing is in effect:

System Design and Software Architecture Workshop: Sept 22-24 and Sept 29-Oct 1, 2025 at 11 am - 3:30 pm Eastern Time (US/Canada)

Info/enroll:
ti.to/bredemeyer/s...
cover of the student book
June 25, 2025 at 12:37 PM