#adventofsystemseeing — Public Fediverse posts

I collected my results and reflections on #AdventOfSystemSeeing 2025 on a page on my blog: https://sebastian-hans.de/blog/aiss-2025/

Most of this has already been posted here, but I have added a PDF version of my zine “Advent(ure) in System Seeing 2025”, so you can print it, too, if you like.

#SystemThinking

I collected my results and reflections on #AdventOfSystemSeeing 2025 on a page on my blog: https://sebastian-hans.de/blog/aiss-2025/

Most of this has already been posted here, but I have added a PDF version of my zine “Advent(ure) in System Seeing 2025”, so you can print it, too, if you like.

#SystemThinking

I collected my results and reflections on #AdventOfSystemSeeing 2025 on a page on my blog: https://sebastian-hans.de/blog/aiss-2025/

Most of this has already been posted here, but I have added a PDF version of my zine “Advent(ure) in System Seeing 2025”, so you can print it, too, if you like.

#SystemThinking

I collected my results and reflections on #AdventOfSystemSeeing 2025 on a page on my blog: https://sebastian-hans.de/blog/aiss-2025/

Most of this has already been posted here, but I have added a PDF version of my zine “Advent(ure) in System Seeing 2025”, so you can print it, too, if you like.

#SystemThinking

I collected my results and reflections on #AdventOfSystemSeeing 2025 on a page on my blog: https://sebastian-hans.de/blog/aiss-2025/

Most of this has already been posted here, but I have added a PDF version of my zine “Advent(ure) in System Seeing 2025”, so you can print it, too, if you like.

#SystemThinking

@RuthMalan thank you for sharing !
Given the quantity of interesting things we forgot when information was scarce, the AI slop years and west beyond-true-and-false-bulldhit in-leaders are going to be a black hole.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing

@RuthMalan thank you for sharing !
Given the quantity of interesting things we forgot when information was scarce, the AI slop years and west beyond-true-and-false-bulldhit in-leaders are going to be a black hole.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing

@RuthMalan thank you for sharing !
Given the quantity of interesting things we forgot when information was scarce, the AI slop years and west beyond-true-and-false-bulldhit in-leaders are going to be a black hole.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing

@RuthMalan thank you for sharing !
Given the quantity of interesting things we forgot when information was scarce, the AI slop years and west beyond-true-and-false-bulldhit in-leaders are going to be a black hole.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing

@RuthMalan thank you for sharing !
Given the quantity of interesting things we forgot when information was scarce, the AI slop years and west beyond-true-and-false-bulldhit in-leaders are going to be a black hole.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing

#AdventOfSystemSeeing day 4. I could draw an image, but writing a blog post fell by the wayside with kids performances, limited time for pair work with @StOnSoftware that needed to go into production software & knowledge sharing before the holidays. Also other blog posts that needed to go out and took time to put together.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing day 4. I could draw an image, but writing a blog post fell by the wayside with kids performances, limited time for pair work with @StOnSoftware that needed to go into production software & knowledge sharing before the holidays. Also other blog posts that needed to go out and took time to put together.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing day 4. I could draw an image, but writing a blog post fell by the wayside with kids performances, limited time for pair work with @StOnSoftware that needed to go into production software & knowledge sharing before the holidays. Also other blog posts that needed to go out and took time to put together.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing day 4. I could draw an image, but writing a blog post fell by the wayside with kids performances, limited time for pair work with @StOnSoftware that needed to go into production software & knowledge sharing before the holidays. Also other blog posts that needed to go out and took time to put together.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing day 4. I could draw an image, but writing a blog post fell by the wayside with kids performances, limited time for pair work with @StOnSoftware that needed to go into production software & knowledge sharing before the holidays. Also other blog posts that needed to go out and took time to put together.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 24. Doing this on Christmas Eve with 2 kids? No chance! Today, they are busy with their presents, and I have some free time. I admit, I groaned every time I encountered a “make a zine page” exercise because drawing does not come naturally to me, but now I already had 5 pages I wanted to finish it. So I added a title page and created two additional pages to illustrate all the tools we used during the course of our Advent(ure). I am quite pleased with the result. I intend to keep it on my desk as a tangible reminder to practice system seeing more often, and as a quick reference.

Thank you, @RuthMalan, for your prompts and the effort you put into them! Doing this on a website instead of only the feed was a good idea. It made it easier for me to tag along slightly behind, and also to review the tools and methods for my tool collection pages.

A photo of the second tool collection (and final) page follows (can only attach 4 pictures here).

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 24. Doing this on Christmas Eve with 2 kids? No chance! Today, they are busy with their presents, and I have some free time. I admit, I groaned every time I encountered a “make a zine page” exercise because drawing does not come naturally to me, but now I already had 5 pages I wanted to finish it. So I added a title page and created two additional pages to illustrate all the tools we used during the course of our Advent(ure). I am quite pleased with the result. I intend to keep it on my desk as a tangible reminder to practice system seeing more often, and as a quick reference.

Thank you, @RuthMalan, for your prompts and the effort you put into them! Doing this on a website instead of only the feed was a good idea. It made it easier for me to tag along slightly behind, and also to review the tools and methods for my tool collection pages.

A photo of the second tool collection (and final) page follows (can only attach 4 pictures here).

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 24. Doing this on Christmas Eve with 2 kids? No chance! Today, they are busy with their presents, and I have some free time. I admit, I groaned every time I encountered a “make a zine page” exercise because drawing does not come naturally to me, but now I already had 5 pages I wanted to finish it. So I added a title page and created two additional pages to illustrate all the tools we used during the course of our Advent(ure). I am quite pleased with the result. I intend to keep it on my desk as a tangible reminder to practice system seeing more often, and as a quick reference.

Thank you, @RuthMalan, for your prompts and the effort you put into them! Doing this on a website instead of only the feed was a good idea. It made it easier for me to tag along slightly behind, and also to review the tools and methods for my tool collection pages.

A photo of the second tool collection (and final) page follows (can only attach 4 pictures here).

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 24. Doing this on Christmas Eve with 2 kids? No chance! Today, they are busy with their presents, and I have some free time. I admit, I groaned every time I encountered a “make a zine page” exercise because drawing does not come naturally to me, but now I already had 5 pages I wanted to finish it. So I added a title page and created two additional pages to illustrate all the tools we used during the course of our Advent(ure). I am quite pleased with the result. I intend to keep it on my desk as a tangible reminder to practice system seeing more often, and as a quick reference.

Thank you, @RuthMalan, for your prompts and the effort you put into them! Doing this on a website instead of only the feed was a good idea. It made it easier for me to tag along slightly behind, and also to review the tools and methods for my tool collection pages.

A photo of the second tool collection (and final) page follows (can only attach 4 pictures here).

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 24. Doing this on Christmas Eve with 2 kids? No chance! Today, they are busy with their presents, and I have some free time. I admit, I groaned every time I encountered a “make a zine page” exercise because drawing does not come naturally to me, but now I already had 5 pages I wanted to finish it. So I added a title page and created two additional pages to illustrate all the tools we used during the course of our Advent(ure). I am quite pleased with the result. I intend to keep it on my desk as a tangible reminder to practice system seeing more often, and as a quick reference.

Thank you, @RuthMalan, for your prompts and the effort you put into them! Doing this on a website instead of only the feed was a good idea. It made it easier for me to tag along slightly behind, and also to review the tools and methods for my tool collection pages.

A photo of the second tool collection (and final) page follows (can only attach 4 pictures here).

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 23: There were definitely “differences between [my] external dialogue and internal thoughts and feelings.” I think this is necessary to a certain degree. In general, you don't want to bleat out the first thing that comes to mind in a professional setting. In the situation I had in mind, I had certain suspicions about the motives of the other party, but this was not the moment to address them. There will be a meeting at the beginning of the new year where the cards will be put on the table. We will prepare for this and hopefully have a fruitful discussion then.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 23: There were definitely “differences between [my] external dialogue and internal thoughts and feelings.” I think this is necessary to a certain degree. In general, you don't want to bleat out the first thing that comes to mind in a professional setting. In the situation I had in mind, I had certain suspicions about the motives of the other party, but this was not the moment to address them. There will be a meeting at the beginning of the new year where the cards will be put on the table. We will prepare for this and hopefully have a fruitful discussion then.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 22: This exercise felt very similar to “Exploring Constraints and Forces” on day 19. When I squint a bit, the goal here looks like the problem there, the actors here form a subset of the constraints there, the impacts here are roughly equivalent to the forces there, and the responses here look like the approaches there. Assumptions are not explicitly called out here, although some of the impacts I listed are indeed assumptions rather than proven facts.

In order to not just copy everything over, I chose a different goal to explore today.

What's new here is the last paragraph where we ask about side-effects and explore further beyond the right side of the diagram. We could do that with the other one, too, however.

So, @RuthMalan, am I right about this being kind of a subset of day 19? If not, what did I miss?

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 22: This exercise felt very similar to “Exploring Constraints and Forces” on day 19. When I squint a bit, the goal here looks like the problem there, the actors here form a subset of the constraints there, the impacts here are roughly equivalent to the forces there, and the responses here look like the approaches there. Assumptions are not explicitly called out here, although some of the impacts I listed are indeed assumptions rather than proven facts.

In order to not just copy everything over, I chose a different goal to explore today.

What's new here is the last paragraph where we ask about side-effects and explore further beyond the right side of the diagram. We could do that with the other one, too, however.

So, @RuthMalan, am I right about this being kind of a subset of day 19? If not, what did I miss?

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 22: This exercise felt very similar to “Exploring Constraints and Forces” on day 19. When I squint a bit, the goal here looks like the problem there, the actors here form a subset of the constraints there, the impacts here are roughly equivalent to the forces there, and the responses here look like the approaches there. Assumptions are not explicitly called out here, although some of the impacts I listed are indeed assumptions rather than proven facts.

In order to not just copy everything over, I chose a different goal to explore today.

What's new here is the last paragraph where we ask about side-effects and explore further beyond the right side of the diagram. We could do that with the other one, too, however.

So, @RuthMalan, am I right about this being kind of a subset of day 19? If not, what did I miss?

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 22: This exercise felt very similar to “Exploring Constraints and Forces” on day 19. When I squint a bit, the goal here looks like the problem there, the actors here form a subset of the constraints there, the impacts here are roughly equivalent to the forces there, and the responses here look like the approaches there. Assumptions are not explicitly called out here, although some of the impacts I listed are indeed assumptions rather than proven facts.

In order to not just copy everything over, I chose a different goal to explore today.

What's new here is the last paragraph where we ask about side-effects and explore further beyond the right side of the diagram. We could do that with the other one, too, however.

So, @RuthMalan, am I right about this being kind of a subset of day 19? If not, what did I miss?

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 22: This exercise felt very similar to “Exploring Constraints and Forces” on day 19. When I squint a bit, the goal here looks like the problem there, the actors here form a subset of the constraints there, the impacts here are roughly equivalent to the forces there, and the responses here look like the approaches there. Assumptions are not explicitly called out here, although some of the impacts I listed are indeed assumptions rather than proven facts.

In order to not just copy everything over, I chose a different goal to explore today.

What's new here is the last paragraph where we ask about side-effects and explore further beyond the right side of the diagram. We could do that with the other one, too, however.

So, @RuthMalan, am I right about this being kind of a subset of day 19? If not, what did I miss?

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 21. Another zine page, oh my! Well, here we go.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 21. Another zine page, oh my! Well, here we go.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 21. Another zine page, oh my! Well, here we go.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 21. Another zine page, oh my! Well, here we go.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 21. Another zine page, oh my! Well, here we go.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 20. Two things I added to my map that weren't explicitly in focus on days 1 through 19 is seeing what's there and seeing what's missing. Seeing what's there means not being content with the first impression and jumping to conclusions but looking closer for what's really there, e.g., do we really have cause and effect here or is it just correlation? Seeing what's missing means noticing gaps in our understanding or in arguments, and working to fill them.

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 20. Two things I added to my map that weren't explicitly in focus on days 1 through 19 is seeing what's there and seeing what's missing. Seeing what's there means not being content with the first impression and jumping to conclusions but looking closer for what's really there, e.g., do we really have cause and effect here or is it just correlation? Seeing what's missing means noticing gaps in our understanding or in arguments, and working to fill them.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 19: Mind mapping on paper does not work for me. I always end up needing more space in places where I did not plan for it, resulting either in very crammed corners or spaghetti connections. So I made a table instead, with columns for constraints, forces, assumptions, and approaches. I linked constraints with the forces they generate and assumptions I made about them. I marked each force assisting my endeavor with a green plus sign and each resisting force with a red minus sign. I also linked forces and assumptions with possible approaches that build upon them or try to counter them, and I included my assessment of the efficacy of each approach. I did this iteratively, adding entries to all columns as they occurred to me.

Initially, I came up with a lot of resisting forces, until I realized that I myself and my current role in the team could count as forces, too. Now it's even, which matches my gut feeling. It could go either way.

Filling the first three columns enabled me to think about possible approaches in a more structured way. Not all approaches are mutually exclusive, and they address different subsets of the forces. Most importantly, I noticed an important gap: some of the positive forces hadn't been properly utilized yet. Thinking about this enabled me to come up with a new approach that might have the best chance of success.

This may well have been the most immediately helpful exercise up to now.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 19: Mind mapping on paper does not work for me. I always end up needing more space in places where I did not plan for it, resulting either in very crammed corners or spaghetti connections. So I made a table instead, with columns for constraints, forces, assumptions, and approaches. I linked constraints with the forces they generate and assumptions I made about them. I marked each force assisting my endeavor with a green plus sign and each resisting force with a red minus sign. I also linked forces and assumptions with possible approaches that build upon them or try to counter them, and I included my assessment of the efficacy of each approach. I did this iteratively, adding entries to all columns as they occurred to me.

Initially, I came up with a lot of resisting forces, until I realized that I myself and my current role in the team could count as forces, too. Now it's even, which matches my gut feeling. It could go either way.

Filling the first three columns enabled me to think about possible approaches in a more structured way. Not all approaches are mutually exclusive, and they address different subsets of the forces. Most importantly, I noticed an important gap: some of the positive forces hadn't been properly utilized yet. Thinking about this enabled me to come up with a new approach that might have the best chance of success.

This may well have been the most immediately helpful exercise up to now.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 19: Mind mapping on paper does not work for me. I always end up needing more space in places where I did not plan for it, resulting either in very crammed corners or spaghetti connections. So I made a table instead, with columns for constraints, forces, assumptions, and approaches. I linked constraints with the forces they generate and assumptions I made about them. I marked each force assisting my endeavor with a green plus sign and each resisting force with a red minus sign. I also linked forces and assumptions with possible approaches that build upon them or try to counter them, and I included my assessment of the efficacy of each approach. I did this iteratively, adding entries to all columns as they occurred to me.

Initially, I came up with a lot of resisting forces, until I realized that I myself and my current role in the team could count as forces, too. Now it's even, which matches my gut feeling. It could go either way.

Filling the first three columns enabled me to think about possible approaches in a more structured way. Not all approaches are mutually exclusive, and they address different subsets of the forces. Most importantly, I noticed an important gap: some of the positive forces hadn't been properly utilized yet. Thinking about this enabled me to come up with a new approach that might have the best chance of success.

This may well have been the most immediately helpful exercise up to now.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 19: Mind mapping on paper does not work for me. I always end up needing more space in places where I did not plan for it, resulting either in very crammed corners or spaghetti connections. So I made a table instead, with columns for constraints, forces, assumptions, and approaches. I linked constraints with the forces they generate and assumptions I made about them. I marked each force assisting my endeavor with a green plus sign and each resisting force with a red minus sign. I also linked forces and assumptions with possible approaches that build upon them or try to counter them, and I included my assessment of the efficacy of each approach. I did this iteratively, adding entries to all columns as they occurred to me.

Initially, I came up with a lot of resisting forces, until I realized that I myself and my current role in the team could count as forces, too. Now it's even, which matches my gut feeling. It could go either way.

Filling the first three columns enabled me to think about possible approaches in a more structured way. Not all approaches are mutually exclusive, and they address different subsets of the forces. Most importantly, I noticed an important gap: some of the positive forces hadn't been properly utilized yet. Thinking about this enabled me to come up with a new approach that might have the best chance of success.

This may well have been the most immediately helpful exercise up to now.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 19: Mind mapping on paper does not work for me. I always end up needing more space in places where I did not plan for it, resulting either in very crammed corners or spaghetti connections. So I made a table instead, with columns for constraints, forces, assumptions, and approaches. I linked constraints with the forces they generate and assumptions I made about them. I marked each force assisting my endeavor with a green plus sign and each resisting force with a red minus sign. I also linked forces and assumptions with possible approaches that build upon them or try to counter them, and I included my assessment of the efficacy of each approach. I did this iteratively, adding entries to all columns as they occurred to me.

Initially, I came up with a lot of resisting forces, until I realized that I myself and my current role in the team could count as forces, too. Now it's even, which matches my gut feeling. It could go either way.

Filling the first three columns enabled me to think about possible approaches in a more structured way. Not all approaches are mutually exclusive, and they address different subsets of the forces. Most importantly, I noticed an important gap: some of the positive forces hadn't been properly utilized yet. Thinking about this enabled me to come up with a new approach that might have the best chance of success.

This may well have been the most immediately helpful exercise up to now.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 18, I realize that most of the capabilities required for the system to fulfil its purpose are external to the system – or at least out of scope of the team nominally responsible for the system. This has already made some things more difficult than they should be.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 18, I realize that most of the capabilities required for the system to fulfil its purpose are external to the system – or at least out of scope of the team nominally responsible for the system. This has already made some things more difficult than they should be.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 18, I realize that most of the capabilities required for the system to fulfil its purpose are external to the system – or at least out of scope of the team nominally responsible for the system. This has already made some things more difficult than they should be.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 18, I realize that most of the capabilities required for the system to fulfil its purpose are external to the system – or at least out of scope of the team nominally responsible for the system. This has already made some things more difficult than they should be.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 18, I realize that most of the capabilities required for the system to fulfil its purpose are external to the system – or at least out of scope of the team nominally responsible for the system. This has already made some things more difficult than they should be.

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 17: The page I used to draw my diagram quickly got too small. In the end, I touched on everything from the technical components of my system of interest over the team composition, organisational structures of the German government, technical infrastructure down to the electrical grid, my own company, the labor market which enables me to work for it, the contracting system which allows me to work for this customer, the economy underpinning both, the food supply chain (gotta eat something!), the (US) companies providing the software I use to work on the system remotely, and world politics up to the solar system and astrophysics. After all, where would we be without the sun?

Oh, and, yes, we have users, too. 😉

I'm not sure if I should be glad or sad that, tomorrow, I'll probably be focusing on breaking the dependency between our unit tests and a centrally provided test database. 😵‍💫

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 17: The page I used to draw my diagram quickly got too small. In the end, I touched on everything from the technical components of my system of interest over the team composition, organisational structures of the German government, technical infrastructure down to the electrical grid, my own company, the labor market which enables me to work for it, the contracting system which allows me to work for this customer, the economy underpinning both, the food supply chain (gotta eat something!), the (US) companies providing the software I use to work on the system remotely, and world politics up to the solar system and astrophysics. After all, where would we be without the sun?

Oh, and, yes, we have users, too. 😉

I'm not sure if I should be glad or sad that, tomorrow, I'll probably be focusing on breaking the dependency between our unit tests and a centrally provided test database. 😵‍💫

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 17: The page I used to draw my diagram quickly got too small. In the end, I touched on everything from the technical components of my system of interest over the team composition, organisational structures of the German government, technical infrastructure down to the electrical grid, my own company, the labor market which enables me to work for it, the contracting system which allows me to work for this customer, the economy underpinning both, the food supply chain (gotta eat something!), the (US) companies providing the software I use to work on the system remotely, and world politics up to the solar system and astrophysics. After all, where would we be without the sun?

Oh, and, yes, we have users, too. 😉

I'm not sure if I should be glad or sad that, tomorrow, I'll probably be focusing on breaking the dependency between our unit tests and a centrally provided test database. 😵‍💫

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 17: The page I used to draw my diagram quickly got too small. In the end, I touched on everything from the technical components of my system of interest over the team composition, organisational structures of the German government, technical infrastructure down to the electrical grid, my own company, the labor market which enables me to work for it, the contracting system which allows me to work for this customer, the economy underpinning both, the food supply chain (gotta eat something!), the (US) companies providing the software I use to work on the system remotely, and world politics up to the solar system and astrophysics. After all, where would we be without the sun?

Oh, and, yes, we have users, too. 😉

I'm not sure if I should be glad or sad that, tomorrow, I'll probably be focusing on breaking the dependency between our unit tests and a centrally provided test database. 😵‍💫

Reflecting on #AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 17: The page I used to draw my diagram quickly got too small. In the end, I touched on everything from the technical components of my system of interest over the team composition, organisational structures of the German government, technical infrastructure down to the electrical grid, my own company, the labor market which enables me to work for it, the contracting system which allows me to work for this customer, the economy underpinning both, the food supply chain (gotta eat something!), the (US) companies providing the software I use to work on the system remotely, and world politics up to the solar system and astrophysics. After all, where would we be without the sun?

Oh, and, yes, we have users, too. 😉

I'm not sure if I should be glad or sad that, tomorrow, I'll probably be focusing on breaking the dependency between our unit tests and a centrally provided test database. 😵‍💫

#AdventOfSystemSeeing, day 16. I followed the suggestion of illustrating constraints. I found this rather hard – constrained by my drawing skills, time, and mind space more than by the medium.