iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 26/07/2026

Very sorry to hear about the tragedy at CSD in Berlin. Sad that these events forced me to start writing again and change the direction of my writing after months of thoughtful pause. I'm afraid we'll meet more similar events soon.

100

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 16/01/2026

Sometimes I see "European Digital Sovereignty" and "AWS" in one partnership sentence. No, sorry, you can pick only one from them.

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 08/01/2026

– Are you part of the problem or the solution? – Both. – ...?? We’re all in the same system that created the problem. That’s the uncomfortable truth. But a good reminder for things we know

210

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Marcin Wichary @aresluna.org · 05/01/2026

I wrote a photo essay with 20+ of my favourite tech museums in the world, and tried to figure out what makes a great museum in the process. I am very curious what tech museums you like – and why! aresluna.org/fav-tech-mus...

aresluna.org

Fav tech museums

A photo essay of 20-something best tech museums I’ve been to

138116

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 05/01/2026

Welcome to the world of Bluetooth headset vulnerabilities. "[We] discovered the custom Bluetooth protocol... pairing was not required.... an attacker within Bluetooth range can connect to the device and manipulate RAM and flash contents without prior authentication." insinuator.net/2025/12/blue...

insinuator.net

Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: Full Disclosure of Airoha RACE Vulnerabilities – Insinuator.net

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 02/01/2026

Still, the same procrastination-panic feelings about what to write in each 360 performance review for many people to cause less harm within the harmful processes

Scenes from the Office series.
Everybody, stay calm!
Oh, my God! Okay, it's happening! Everybody stay.calm!

Everybody just f****** calm down! Stay f** calm!

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 24/11/2025

If new AI browsers can help get rid of pop-ups over pop-ups across the whole internet, it might be worth a shot. Or not. And have a good Monday! #ai

the image of the main google search page in the browser, and add on top a few pop ups: 1) cookies consent with long text description with marketing, functional and statistics buttons 2) with age check verification 18+ if you want to touch sensitive topics of software engineering and devops 3) captcha with images and requirement to translate a k-pop song to japanese 4) black friday deal to subscription on pro tool for 3 years

030

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 07/10/2025

@rebeccawb.bsky.social @mathiasverraes.bsky.social @ruthmalan.bsky.social Thank you for the lovely discussion yesterday! If you can advise, one question followed after the discussion: what could be an approach to choose our own blocks (and understand what's essential for us)? #papersinsystems

210

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 07/10/2025

For introvert leaders, if your party is not like this, don't call me. p.s. Okay, I still can occasionally come...

Complaint Party - Let's rant, whine and complain together! COMPLAINT PARTY 1 x Ticket

010

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Andrew Harmel-Law @andrewhl.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

🏃‍♂️ I'm running the Berlin Half Marathon 2026 for Sea-Watch.org. They conduct vital search & rescue operations in the Mediterranean, saving lives when others turn away. 21.1km for me = solidarity with their life-saving mission. Please support me: sea-watch.org/en/join-us/m... #BerlinHalf #SeaWatch

sea-watch.org

Half Marathon Berlin 20256 – My charity run • Sea-Watch e.V.

134

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 22/09/2025

99 percent of problems in road traffic can be solved by brakes. Not by fast reaction, and wow, look how the driver made a heroic maneuver. What are we doing in tech? We are trying to solve all local issues by speeding up.

100

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 25/08/2025

Was the vacation long enough if I still remember my corporate laptop password? 🤔

010

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 01/08/2025

The whole week, I was trying to understand what the calendar event "Wrong ideas" I created. Now 5 minutes, how it's in progress. Still no idea.

000

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Dorota Parad @dorotaparad.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

I’ve finally created a home for some of my scribbles: dorotaparad.ch I will fill it out with my past and new articles in the coming weeks and beyond. (1/6)

dorotaparad.ch

Value Added Thoughts

131

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

One of the cartoons from Physics for Cats

Title: Soren Kierkegaard, 1843

Image: A three panel comic strip that shows Mr Kierkegaard saying
"Life can only be understood backwards" as he walks from right to left through the three frames (i.e. against the usual order in which these panels would be read)

A dog walks from left to right, saying: "But it must be lived forward"

213068912

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

*** why pictures work better than words when designing systems ***

181

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Newcrafts Conference @newcrafts.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

📢 The NewCrafts Sessions are here! Dive into our curated collection of talks from past NewCrafts Conferences, now available on YouTube. Discover insights from leading software crafters and tech innovators. Watch now:

youtube.com

NewCrafts Conference

NewCrafts is a conference for software practitioners who want to improve the quality of their software. Writing coherent code is only the first step. The bes...

032

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 29/03/2025

Here is a friendly idea for conferences and meetups to add BSky and Mastodon handles as social networks in CfP in addition to X/Instagram.

110

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 29/03/2025

After an excellent detective with good humor 8 episodes of the series "The Residence," with amazing Uzo Aduba, there is always a question of how to find the next TV series :)

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 23/03/2025

I finally celebrated the reexamination of my auto driver's license by this 2 wheeler. It's orange, smooth, silent and light. Very healthy, not bad ecological impact.

The fresh orange color city/touring bike on the street

030

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 23/03/2025

Hello! #introduction I'm Alex, a tech lead and team lead with technical and engineering management experience. I love systems in tech, and I'm trying to embed more humanistic and practical processes into the work. The bigger texts and talks are indexed here: aptakhin.name/published/

aptakhin.name

Published

systems lover in tech

000

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 21/03/2025

Cosmic Distance Calibration xkcd.com/3066

9711834995

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 19/03/2025

1/4 When I was thinking at the end of the year about what strategy is and how to approach it, Rumelt's book was recommended to me by Matt Weagle and @ruthmalan.bsky.social (Richard Rumelt ‘Good strategy. Bad strategy’). I was hooked by the things that explain what is not strategy.

110

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 18/03/2025

If you are frustrated with tasks reworking and returning, priorities–my experience in the Berlin offline meetup on the 17th of April. Thanks to @jetbrains.com as the host and @sharovatov.bsky.social as moderator and inspirer. With video recording! www.meetup.com/quality-engi...

meetup.com

Quality Engineering meetup #6, Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 6:00 PM | Meetup

*In collaboration with* [JetBrains](https://www.jetbrains.com), *[Qase](https://qase.io) is presenting the **sixth** Meetup on Quality Engineering in Berlin.* *This time,

010

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

My* work, as backgrounders for those considering my session(s): Free ebooks/pdfs: System Seeing Starter Kit: www.ruthmalan.com/systems/2025... System Design as *System* *Design*: www.ruthmalan.com/Bredemeyer/2... Architecture Principles: www.ruthmalan.com/systems/2025... Free to share

ruthmalan.com

194

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 07/03/2025

My teammate Izel invented "pear programming" – it's not yet pair programming, but it's a clarification and troubleshooting of things together. I love how it sounds

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 28/02/2025

We would never make up an Individual Contributor term if we were more familiar with team forming and leadership instead of Continuous Isolation

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 21/02/2025

Recently, I was searching for people giving TDD live courses, and people replied with a few recommendations. Even I can’t thoroughly recommend them as I didn’t check, this might be the list for searching start with some great names in alphabetical order: Jason Gorman: www.codemanship.co.uk ... #tdd

codemanship.co.uk

codemanship | Home

Instructor-led training for development teams in Agile technical practices

100

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 12/02/2025

Okay, a postponing of wisdom teeth problem now doesn't sound like a solution. Locally looks fixed now, I'm better. Second issue I'm still doing things I can postpone, but not important ones. Now sounds like the same story, yeah?

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 12/02/2025

Only 30+ reviewed submissions on free time from the weekend and already dead #europython #europython2025 But there are 583 from all tracks :)

000

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 12/02/2025

Incoming Asteroid xkcd.com/3049

281219543261

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Younes Zeriahi @yzeriahi.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Excited for our meetup tonight at the Berlin office! @dstepanovic.bsky.social and I will be sharing insights on how DDD and XP can help increase delivery throughput. Looking forward to great discussions, see you there! #DDD #XP #N26 #Berlin #Meetup

163

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 10/02/2025

I felt so rich that I took a carsharing ride to work in Berlin. Of course, it's more expensive and longer than the most extended way in the Berlin transport strike, but I still feel happy in the morning. Profit!

010

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 09/02/2025

I signed up for three external talks on three different topics within one week in March. It’s going to be a hot week. Someone rational said to prepare everything in advance, haha

010

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 07/02/2025

When I go to the library, my counting numbers start not from zero but from four. I'm really trying my best to decrease the count of books, but it happened again

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 07/02/2025

When fighting for the good, struggling could be inevitable. I was curious if stepping down made us worse as specialists aptakhin.name/posts/2025/f...

aptakhin.name

For all the good vs all the bad

systems lover in tech

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 03/02/2025

Thank you Brussel and #FOSDEM Amazing people, talks and vibes. But you know my second city visit is truly about Autoworld 🙃

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 29/01/2025

What should we do if we feel we have low performers on the team? It’s frustrating and takes a lot of energy. How should we treat them, how should we help? Or should we reframe the question to the supersystem problem? aptakhin.name/posts/2025/b...

aptakhin.name

Boring Low Performance

systems lover in tech

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 27/01/2025

I’m dreaming about organizing collaboration leadership learning groups. These skills and atmosphere sound so strong! Of course, I doubt how much effort I can put into it, and my professional brand is not so strong. And still, I think of starting small steps

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 26/01/2025

Our individual work starts in early school and continues at work. Now, we often lack teamwork tools in our toolboxes. I feel happier now that it's considered a problem, at least in some of the educations, and they are working on 4C: creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.

000

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Ruth Malan @ruthmalan.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Next up in #PapersInSystems: we’ll be discussing Crafting Conceptual Integrity: ch 2 of Learning Systems Thinking Discussion will be led by Diana Montalion (the author!) — @mentrix.bsky.social on here. Monday, February 10, 1-2pm Eastern Time Free, but enroll for access: ti.to/bredemeyer/m...

Cover of Learning Systems Thinking, by Diana Montalion

Sketchnote of key points in the Conceptual Integrity chapter.

"Conceptual integrity must exist between people, before it can exist in the system”

"hard to define, but we know when it's missing"

“Software interacts with an ever-changing world.”

33612

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 24/01/2025

When I see "managing low-performers" content, I still think the main low-performer in the system is usually the manager. Hiring, onboarding, work, and processes are his responsibility more than others. Why did the hired person become a low-performer? Did he choose or did the overall system works bad

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 23/01/2025

Network Lama wishes you good Thursday!

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 22/01/2025

Our target ideal role model for the hiring and onboarding process should be the hiring cylinder, not the funnel. One candidate applied for a job posting, and the same passed the probationary period. Everything else is longer and more expensive? Idealistic, yes. The goal is to economic efficiency

100

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 18/01/2025

Thank you all, Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, and Telegram. When we lost connection, the call terminated, and both parties tried to call each other; they received busy beeps and no talk. Thank you, but the feature from analog phones you might not repeat and just do connect us.

000

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

Julia Evans @b0rk.jvns.ca · 07/01/2025

it's a new year and I spent my first workday writing a quick ★ terminal survey ★! it should take about 5 minutes and I'd love for folks to fill it out, I'm writing a zine about the terminal and my goal is to understand who we're writing it for a little better s.surveyplanet.com/wkepwlsp

7420106

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 05/01/2025

Good vibes and chess play were our office Christmas party outcome. I started learning stuff around chess, but feel I' going nowhere for three weeks. Community is one of the options to unstuck or to improve awareness not only in chess. I signed up for online chess club ♟️

000

Alexander Ptakhin @aptakhin.name · 03/01/2025

For Berliners. When I comically added the “offboarding” part to the hiring topic suggestion in the XTC meetup, I didn’t realize what exactly I would highlight. But this is a good part of the eXtreme Tuesday Club.

meetup.com

XTC Berlin: Hiring, Interviews and Off-boarding, Tue, Jan 21, 2025, 7:00 PM | Meetup

**Topic: Topic** Explore the nuances of hiring, interviewing, and off-boarding in software engineering teams in this interactive session. A brief presentation will set the

100

Reposted by Alexander Ptakhin

J. B. Rainsberger @jbrains.ca · 02/01/2025

I am thinking about publishing a video series in 2025. My working title is "It Depends" and my slogan is this: > I don't know The Right You and neither do you. Which debates, topics, or questions should I talk about in such a video series? I have in mind 2-10 minutes each.

241