If you want to build really large software systems well, you have to stop thinking of them as just software systems. Beyond a certain size, everything your software touches becomes part of the wider system. You’re part of the system, your users are part of the system, and every other employee & department & priority eventually forms part of that system. And that can make it incredibly difficult to make changes, or even to understand which changes will actually matter.

That might be overwhelming, but there's hope. Understanding how systems work and how to improve them is something that can be learnt, and improved at. So in the pursuit of better systems understanding, I’m joined this week by Diana Montalion, coder, architect, and author of Learning Systems Thinking. She takes us through how she sees systems, and how we can get better at discovering and understanding our own systems, as we both chew through some difficult systems we’ve worked on in the hope of figuring out how to do it better next time…

–

Learning Systems Thinking (book): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Systems-Thinking-Essential-Professionals-ebook/dp/B0D9KWZRT2

Diana’s Website: https://montalion.com/

Scientific Management (Tailorism): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management

Jay Wright Forrester: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Wright_Forrester

Support Developer Voices on Patreon: https://patreon.com/DeveloperVoices

Support Developer Voices on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@developervoices/join

Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianamontalion/

Diana on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dianamontalion

Kris on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/krisajenkins.bsky.social

Kris on Mastodon: http://mastodon.social/@krisajenkins

Kris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisjenkins/

Lefties, righties and mixed-handers: The psychology of brain asymmetry, with Sebastian Ocklenburg, PhD

Speaking of Psychology

What determines handedness?

The AI-powered Podcast Player