Ruth Malan

@ruthmalan.bsky.social

3126 Followers 1138 Following

Systems. Design. she/her

cover of the free system design overview
Abstract for Theory of Troubleshooting (paper is at the link)
container differences exchange model graphic
Buttercup Festival comic: Protagonist looking a lil branch that still has some green leaves, but is clearly been snapped, but not all the way off: “Oh branch, did the storm do that to you?” Branch replies: Nothing good. It’s been rough I’ll tell you. BUT IM STILL HANGING ON. STILL GOT A BIT OF THAT XXLEM AND PHLOEM CONNECTIVITY. STILL GETTING SOME OF THAT SUN-TASTE, SOME OF THAT EARTH-TASTE. Last frame: in color Green forest (with bits of brown in undergrowth), yellow sunlight behind the broken branch
pages of student book (too small to read; just used for impression of thoughtful content)
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"'
cover of Dynamic Administration a collection of papers by Mary Parker Follett
image made of pages of the workshop materials (too small to read; just there for the impression)
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
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.
Zine made of images from from the Adventure in System Seeing, shared by Sevastian Hans The zine is not fully open, so you can’t see any of the two page spreads fully, but the image is to give the impression of a booklet or zine, not to show the pages
cover of Technical Leadership book
banner image is collage of pages (too small to read) from workshop materials
a page of the prompt workbook on LI
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.”
page with 3 columns of notes
tiny zines on a kraft notebook (which itself is 5x8)
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.
cover of the linked ebook
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
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*
"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
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
banner image made of pages from the materials (pages there for impression only, as they are too small to read)
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
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
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)
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
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.
the zine before folding
some of the pages of the zine to show what it looks like when folder
concept cards (fronts) and practices (on the back) example: Concept: System Boundary Practice: Domain Story
Adventures in Systems zine with SoCraTes logo
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.
cover of the student book
"Here are [..] reasons that radiating intent is better than begging forgiveness: Radiating intent gives a chance for someone to stop you before you do a thing, in case it's truly harmful Radiating intent gives people who have information, or want to help, an opening to participate Radiating intent leaves better evidence of your good will" — Elizabeth Ayer
Sketch of box-and-line drawing of person with scars on their back and the words: Everyone has “better” ideas, because they see different parts of the “problem” (ie system)
drawing of Sousanis drawing, with arrows from head to hand, and hand to eyes
Cover of Alicia Juarrero’s book, Context Changes Everything: How Constraints Create Coherence
Hi, Our upcoming program features 106 sessions and 96 speakers across DDD Europe, EventCentric, and Data Mesh Live. Have you explored which talks align with your interests?
Image of the tweet quoted in the post
DDD Europe June 4-6 Antwerp Belgium
Cover of Dynamic Administration Power is ch 4
Diagram of system as circle influencing and being influenced by the immediate task environment, and the larger environment
Ruth Malan SYSTEMS THEORY AND PRACTICE APPLIED TO SYSTEM DESIGN This hands-on session will provide an opportunity to practice aspects of system design with several activities chosen to experience and draw out system learning, and underscore the importance of a systems orientation.
The UN Open Source Principles 1. Open by default: Making Open Source the standard approach for projects 2. Contribute back: Encouraging active participation in the Open Source ecosystem 3. Secure by design: Making security a priority in all software projects 4. Foster inclusive participation and community building: Enabling and facilitating diverse and inclusive contributions Design for reusability: Designing projects to be interoperable across various platforms and ecosystems 6. Provide documentation: Providing thorough documentation for end-users, integrators and developers 7. RISE (recognize, incentivize, support and empower): Empowering individuals and communities to actively participate 8. Sustain and scale: Supporting the development of solutions that meet the evolving needs of the UN system and beyond.
197. What is [business] Strategy? - Understand the ecosystems) we want to play in - Create a theory of our role in that ecosystems) - Our unique identity - How we will thrive and survive - Not just a nice story, but interwoven | auterentlation reasoned arguments that we can probe and test / 198. Business model 199. Recall: What is Strategy? (Rumelt) 200. Strategy asks: what's going on? And what are we going to 201. Strategy is kinda hard actually... "As a punk-ass programmer, I'd grumble about 'management.' Well, they have a job to do, and it's a really difficult job." — Kent Beck
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 a 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 31. Principles: How? More Guidelines 32. Try it: Dependencies 33. Try it: Resilience 34. Try it: Team exercise
Cover page of linked PDF indicates contents via cover of Thinking in Systems and Design It! Plus images of some of the pages (too small to read.)
Project Stretch Architecture Principles We know Fred Brooks from reading The Mythical Man Month. But it is also worth reading Fred Brooks' Architectural Philosophy chapter in Project Stretch, for the history and for the lessons about architectural design. The architectural principles Fred Books describes are: • Over-all cost minimization • Power instead of Simplicity • Generalized Features • Specialized Equipment for Frequent Tasks • Systematic Instruction Set • Precision for New Operating Techniques Principle: Power Instead of Simplicity "The user was given power rather than simplicity whenever an equal cost choice had to be made. It was recognized in the first place that the new computer would have many highly sophisticated and experienced users. It would have been presumptuous as well as unwise for the computer designers to "protect" such users from equipment complexities that might be useful for solving complex problems. In the second place, the choice is asymmetric. Powerful features can be ignored by a user who wishes to confine himself [sic] to simple techniques. But if powerful features were not provided, the skillful and motivated user could not wring their power from the computer. "
Conceptual integrity page, with quotes from Diana Montalion’s book. Including: "When our ideas are cohesive and in good relationship with each other; when they are supported by healthy, shared patterns and principles; when we push code changes that improve the system's ability to serve its purpose, we create conceptual integrity." — Diana Montalion And "When our concepts can't work together in harmony to serve a purpose, our software systems will reflect that lack of integrity. Integrity is the measure of how well a system operates as a whole. — Diana Montalion
Top of the first page of the Bainbridge paper, Ironies of Automation. Text is too small to read.
We've all encountered systems that feel disjointed — where seemingly good ideas somehow fail to come together effectively. These are classic symptoms of a lack of conceptual integrity, where the whole becomes less than the sum of its parts. In our upcoming Papers in Systems session, we'll discuss Chapter 2 of 'Learning Systems Thinking' by Diana Montalion. Diana is an amazing communicator who brings a very unique and valuable perspective to the conversation. Join us next Monday, February 10th, 2025, from 1-2 PM Eastern Time, for a great discussion exploring mental models, the nuanced relationships between social and technical systems, and the often surprising and counterintuitive nature of leverage points in systems. Free event — registration details in the comment below.
Cover of Learning Systems Thinking, by Diana Montalion
Table of Contents page
Text from linked page describes thinking behind the illustration: “The Berkana Two Loop Model, as described by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze, is a map for creating change in living / social systems. It illustrates the concept that change can intentionally be created by strategically using emergence. The upper loop represents the existing system. All living systems go through a period in which they rise, peak and then move into decline. Stewards of the existing system try to maintain the health of the system for as long as possible. As systems near their peak, signs of turbulence may appear leading to decline. As decline continues the need to provide hospice care grows. Hospice care can help the system end gracefully, making sure that as it declines, damage is minimized and learning is maximized. Emerging from the decline of an old system can be a new system illustrated by the lower loop. Turbulance in the existing system leads to "walk outs" from the old system. These innovators or trailblazers turn their backs on the existing system so they can create something new. Innovators tend to work in isolation, are invisible and are mostly ignored. If they remain isloated, they will likely fail. Instead, if the innovators are connected, they can form networks and build trust to allow for a stronger base and a sharing of knowledge. When networks are nourished they can become communities of practice. Connecting and nourishing these networks and communities is key to the growth of the new system. They are the fertile ground in which the new system can take root. This is the space in which illuminators can shine a light on whats possible and help a community to become a system of influence. The transition from the old to the new is a critical phase where resources and people start to flow towards the innovations that have proven to be effective. It’s in this space that the old system can offer its resources to help the new system grow.”
Page with people’s drawings of bicycles and orgs, and quote from post at head of thread
Page with drawings — bicycle exercise and org exercise
Copeland James at the Buskirk Chumley