Mastodawn

At its core #sociotechnical system design is about a holistic democratisation of work.

"Not many people know that."

Your architecture isn’t failing just because of bad code! It’s being shaped by forces you aren’t even tracking: HR reward systems, "culture of coolness," and organizational silos.

In this #InfoQ talk, Vanessa Formicola introduces #HolisticEngineering - the practice of factoring the organic socio-technical problem space into your technical decisions.

Key takeaways for Architects & Leaders:
✅ How to use Social Decision Records (SDRs)
✅ Why HR policies create "Kitchen Sink" libraries
✅ Moving from "Fate" to Strategic Design

Watch now: https://bit.ly/3LZ8bNY

#Culture #EngineeringManagement #SocioTechnical

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Trond Hjorteland Jan 20

New blog post, this time in Norwegian:

Given that your company is serious about people being the core assets and wants their engagement in your vision and goals, sociotechnical system design is the way to go. As a bonus, you'll also get better productivity, quality, and sustainable cost reductions.

#SocioTechnical #OpenSystems #OrgDesign

https://www.capraconsulting.no/vare-historier/sosioteknisk-systemdesign-for-moderne-bedrifter

Sosioteknisk systemdesign for moderne bedrifter

Dr. rer. pol. Fabian Walke Jan 18

🚨 Human belief is becoming a #security issue.

Security in #sociotechnical #systems is shaped not only by #technology, but by how people interpret information.

Our new study reviews 24 factors and conceptualizes belief in false information as a human-centered security risk.

👉 https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07016

#Misinformation #Disinformation #FakeNews #DeepFake #AI #Trust #DigitalRisk #InformationSecurity #BusinessInformatics #Wirtschaftsinformatik #FakeInformation #SocialNetworks #Cybersecurity

Virtual Domain-Driven Design Nov 25

What happens when an architect disagrees with a team's decision in a culture of autonomy? The answer isn't to overrule.

We explore the shift from control to influence, where the architect's first question becomes introspective: "Was my advice good enough?" Learn how architecture principles and DDD Context Maps help create guardrails for good decisions and navigate boundary disputes.

#DDD #SoftwareArchitecture #TeamAutonomy #SocioTechnical

Trond Hjorteland Nov 20

This is a fantastic talk by Kent Beck. And so important. What he is saying here, using his perspective from Extreme Programming (XP), basically sums up all my talks from the last few years. His distinction between deserts and forests is the same as bureaucracy and sociotechnical/democratic systems, respectively, and the parallel universes are the unmixable world views that people carry around. No data or good arguments can make people switch from one to the other. It's futile to try, IMHO. Only by being aware of what they are and how different they make you see the world can a conscious choice be made to move from one to the other.

<thinking hat>
You can't extrapolate from a closed system to an open one, but you can reduce an open system to a closed one. Or, put it in Beck's terms, you cannot grasp a forest when all you know is the desert, but you can imagine how a forest can become a desert. 😉
</thinking hat>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVqISU5M5ow

#XP #Sociotechnical #OpenSystems

The Forest & The Desert Are Parallel Universes • Kent Beck • GOTO 2025

YouTube

SoftwareArchitecture Gathering Nov 18

Fast, reliable delivery needs more than clean code – it needs the right socio-technical architecture. In his #SAGconf session, @crichardson shows how to start simple, evolve intentionally, and spot the signals that your structure needs to change. ✨

Learn more about his session 👉 https://t1p.de/huajb

#SAG2025 #SoftwareArchitecture #FastFlow #TeamTopology #SocioTechnical #iSAQB

Virtual Domain-Driven Design Nov 11

How do you move architectural decisions from an ivory tower to the team? A new story details one company's journey to a decentralised, team-led model. It's a candid look at the cultural shift from top-down opinions to a collaborative advice process using tools like ADRs and advisory forums.

#DDD #SoftwareArchitecture #TeamAutonomy #SocioTechnical