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From my brain to yours.

  • The value of sensemaking

    2nd Feb 2022 by

    Discovering and interpreting beliefs in groups By Paul de Raaij & Evelyn van Kelle Ever been part of a conversation that seemed to revolve around the same issue over and over again? Or a meeting where some people keep diving into details and others want to stay more high-level? As consultants, we often come across… Read more

  • EventStorming as cultural assessment

    29th Jun 2021 by

    We are on a quest… By João Rosa & Evelyn van Kelle As consultants, we are not only challenged by the technical challenges our customers face, but also how it affects the organisational structures and the culture. Based on our experiences, EventStorming is a great technique to expose the underlying cultural aspects of an organisation,… Read more

  • Systems Thinking: define the problem, results and behaviour

    20th Apr 2021 by

    Great landing, wrong airport I read this phrase a while ago and it got to me. It fitted the projects I was working on. <Enter attentional bias>.  These organisations I was working with were building great solutions (technically). Unfortunately, not always what their customers were expecting. It confirmed for me that Systems Thinking is really important. Combined with… Read more

  • Increasing business value by embracing Domain-Driven Design

    13th Jan 2020 by

    By Paul de Raaij & Evelyn van Kelle Software development is at the core of most companies. We’re all digital enterprises that need to understand how technology is heavily influencing our core business and can make or break our competitive advantage. Making the right decisions when it comes to investing in technology has become a… Read more

  • Unleashing Social Super Powers – Part 3

    6th Jan 2020 by

    Can I train my brain to be better at using System 2?  This is what you all came for, right?  This is what will get my click through rate sky high!  Let me start with a short recap of my previous post. The reason we got to this point. I talked about the difference between… Read more

  • 2 Days in the life of a DDD Foundations trainee

    9th Dec 2019 by

    “Once we start judging, we stop learning.” I’ve always been a big supporter of continuous learning, and as a social scientist I know how easily we get trapped in cognitive bias and heuristics. That’s why I’m convinced that it’s crucial to continuously challenge your own perspectives, opinions and judgements.  That is why I decided to… Read more

  • Unleashing Social Super Powers – Part 2

    14th Nov 2019 by

    Beware of the experts Remember what I said about how recognising social heuristics in different situations can help you make less biased decisions? In my previous post, I talked about the availability heuristic. Or What you see is all there is. In part 2, I’d like to take the risk of not making friends by stating that… Read more

  • Unleashing Social Super Powers – Part 1

    19th Jul 2019 by

    What you see is all there is. Getting out of your comfort zone pays off.Understanding social heuristics in this ‘IT-world’ does too. Last May, at NewCrafts Conference in beautiful Paris, I got out of my stage-comfort zone for the second time. After a great experience at Domain Driven Design Europe in Amsterdam, I went on stage again… Read more

  • Trust your gut. But sometimes, think twice.

    12th Jun 2019 by

    Let’s celebrate heuristics where we can. Especially in software development. I’ve been on stage quite a few times now, where I usually talk about balancing socio-technical complexity. There’s a lot of focus on social dynamics, human interaction and communication in these talks, but a large portion focuses on the more technical side of things. Just… Read more

  • Strong feedback loops make strong software teams

    27th Jul 2018 by

    Enhance overall code quality through a blend of interpersonal communication and tool-based analysis. Software quality takes time. And good quality products come from properly working feedback loops. Timely feedback can mean clarity over confusion; a validation of assumptions can mean shorter development cycles. For example, let’s say you have a project that needs to be… Read more

  • Your key to happiness: Feedback Loops

    27th Jun 2018 by

    Do you ever feel that others just don’t get what you meant or do the exact opposite of what you where asking for? Frustrating as it is, part of it can probably be blamed on you. Enter feedback loops. Being well aware that this is a universal theme, I will focus specifically on feedback loops… Read more

  • Hey, where did my comfort zone go?

    24th Aug 2017 by

    Making sense of the socio-technical mashup that is called the IT-world In an attempt to make sense of this world in general, and the IT-world in particular, we all use shortcuts and stereotypes. When joining a software consultancy company, I quickly learned that there is ‘business’ and ‘IT’, which are two very different things and… Read more

  • Better Software Quality Requires Stronger Coding Skills

    10th Nov 2016 by

    Your developers need formal training and certification Now that software affects almost every aspect of our lives, it’s easier than ever to see the importance of high-quality coding. And since coding is obviously a craft, such craftsmanship needs clear criteria to assess its quality. However, there seems to be no consensus about what software quality… Read more

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