Systems Thinking began on the blog of my consultancy, Ashdown Systems, where I wrote for leaders of UK startups and SMBs. It now continues here as a personal blog.
The original articles are listed below for reference. I’m reworking several of them for this site, updated and in my own voice, and where a new version exists I’ll link to it from the list.
| Date | Article | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 22 October 2026 | Security by Design, Not by Accident | What SMBs need before their first breach |
| 7 October 2026 | The Solutions Architecture Health Check | 10 questions every leader should be able to answer |
| 28 September 2026 | Vendor Lock-In: How to Stay Flexible Without Slowing Down | Where to accept commitment, and how to keep the option to leave |
| 17 September 2026 | AI Costs Out of Control? | A solutions architecture approach to getting them under control |
| 9 September 2026 | Cloud Costs Out of Control? | A solutions architecture approach to cost optimisation |
| 1 September 2026 | Data Silos Are Costing You More Than You Think | How to spot them |
| 25 August 2026 | Scaling Without Breaking | How to choose technology that grows with you |
| 20 August 2026 | Build vs. Buy | The question every SMB gets wrong at least once |
| 18 August 2026 | AI Tools Are Everywhere — How Do You Actually Decide What’s Worth Adopting? | A practical framework for evaluating AI tools |
| 11 August 2026 | The Cost of “Just Making It Work” | Why ad-hoc tech decisions cost SMBs more later |
| 10 August 2026 | You Don’t Need to Be a Tech Company to Need Solutions Architecture | What solutions architecture is, and why non-technical businesses need it too |