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Organizations which design systems (in the broad sense used here) are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.

– Melvin Conway

All of us … are afraid of exposing that part of ourselves that we hold most dear for fear that it will be rejected. But the artist has a duty to risk that. And it’s a duty to risk it so that you’re able to be better.

– Brian Koppelman

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system.

– Robert Gall

One will weave the canvas; another will fell a tree by the light of his ax. Yet another will forge nails, and there will be others who observe the stars to learn how to navigate. And yet all will be as one. Building a boat isn’t about weaving canvas, forging nails, or reading the sky. It’s about giving a shared taste for the sea, by the light of which you will see nothing contradictory but rather a community of love.

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better. What if they are a little coarse and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again; you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.

– Alfred Whitehead

A good design is an effort to achieve fitness between two entities: the form in question and its context.

– Christopher Alexander, Notes On The Synthesis Of Form

When it comes to coming up with ideas, it’s paralysing when you have too many options to choose from. When you have too much, ideas get complicated. They get watered down, and you overspend instead of think. That’s why we believe constraints are creativity’s best friend.

Because they make you think.

– Becky Okell and Huw Thomas

If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.

– Benjamin Franklin