#System Design

Keeping Simple Things Simple, Enabling Complexity

Alan Kay’s line captures an ideal that good systems repeatedly strive for: everyday actions shouldn’t require extraordinary effort, yet ambitious goals shouldn’t be blocked by rigid limitations. In other words, the commo...

Designing Environments That Make Good Habits Inevitable

James Clear’s line shifts the spotlight from personal grit to structural design. Instead of glorifying willpower, he suggests that the smartest way to change behavior is to adjust the system around you so that good choic...

Create Systems or Be Ruled by Others

William Blake issues his challenge in Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion (c. 1804–1820): “I must Create a System, or be enslaved by another Man’s.