Knowledge Bases

Curated knowledge bases on systems thinking, lean, agile, and more.

guide

Pyrite user guide — how to install, connect your AI, search knowledge bases, and use Pyrite for research, journalism, and team knowledge management.

18 entries

agile

The Agile software movement — from its pre-history in lightweight methods (Scrum, XP, Crystal, DSDM) through the Snowbird Manifesto (2001) to modern frameworks and the post-Agile discourse. A movement

101 entries

anderson

Intellectual biography of David J. Anderson — creator of the Kanban method for knowledge work and software development. Covers his synthesis of Toyota's Kanban system (Ohno), queueing theory (Reinerts

58 entries

blank

Intellectual biography of Steve Blank — serial entrepreneur, educator, and creator of the Customer Development methodology. Covers the development of Customer Development from entrepreneurial experien

44 entries

boyd

Intellectual biography of Colonel John R. Boyd (1927-1997) — USAF fighter pilot, military strategist, and Pentagon reformer. Covers his briefings and writings, key concepts (OODA loop, Energy-Maneuver

109 entries

ching

Intellectual biography of Clarke Ching — author, consultant, and intellectual descendant of Eliyahu Goldratt who applies Theory of Constraints to software development and agile contexts. Known for acc

43 entries

demarco

Intellectual biography of Tom DeMarco (b. 1940) and Timothy Lister — software consultants, authors, and co-founders of the Atlantic Systems Guild. Covers their argument that major software project fai

63 entries

deming

Intellectual biography of W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) — statistician, management theorist, and the most influential figure in the quality revolution. Covers his statistical foundations (Shewhart, SP

96 entries

devops

The DevOps movement — applying lean principles to the entire software delivery pipeline. From the Velocity 2009 "10+ Deploys Per Day" talk and the first DevOpsDays (Ghent, 2009) through continuous del

70 entries

doctorow

Intellectual biography of Cory Doctorow (b. 1971) — novelist, journalist, blogger, and digital rights activist. Covers his writings (fiction, nonfiction, blog), key concepts (enshittification, adversa

82 entries

flow

The psychology and science of flow — from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's foundational research (1975/1990) through its application in software development (DeMarco/Lister), knowledge work (Newport), neuros

108 entries

foss

The free and open source software (FOSS) movement — from Stallman's GNU Manifesto (1983) through the open source schism (1998) to modern distributed development, licensing ecosystems, and governance m

78 entries

goldratt

Intellectual biography of Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1947-2011) — Israeli physicist turned management theorist, creator of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), and author of "The Goal" (1984). Covers TOC's five

61 entries

meadows

Intellectual biography of Donella H. Meadows (1941-2001) — environmental scientist, systems thinker, lead author of "The Limits to Growth" (1972), and author of the posthumous "Thinking in Systems: A

94 entries

poppendiecks

Intellectual biography of Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck — the founders of Lean Software Development. Covers their translation of Toyota Production System principles into software, the seven lea

71 entries

pyrite

Pyrite project knowledge base — architecture decisions, standards, component docs, backlog, and runbooks

412 entries

rao

Intellectual biography of Venkatesh Rao — writer, consultant, and independent intellectual. Covers his writings (Ribbonfarm, Tempo, Breaking Smart, The Clockless Clock), key concepts (Gervais Principl

82 entries

red-rock-eater

Intellectual biography of Philip Agre — writings catalog, key concepts, biographical context, and intellectual network. Based on his academic papers, the Red Rock Eater News Service newsletter (1993–2

2523 entries

reinertsen

Intellectual biography of Donald G. Reinertsen — product development theorist, consultant, and author of "Managing the Design Factory" (1997) and "The Principles of Product Development Flow" (2009). C

55 entries

richards

Intellectual biography of Chet Richards — Boyd acolyte, management consultant, and author who became the primary translator of Boyd's military strategy concepts into business and software development

48 entries

schneier

Intellectual biography of Bruce Schneier (b. 1963) — cryptographer, security technologist, author, and public intellectual. Covers his evolution from cryptography practitioner to one of the most impor

94 entries

senge

Intellectual biography of Peter Senge (b. 1947) — MIT Sloan faculty, systems thinker, and author of "The Fifth Discipline" (1990), which popularized the concept of the learning organization. Covers th

83 entries

stallman

Intellectual biography of Richard Stallman (b. 1953) — programmer, activist, founder of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation, author of the GPL, and originator of the copyleft concept. Cov

110 entries

tps

Intellectual biography of Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990) and Shigeo Shingo (1909-1990) — the architects of the Toyota Production System. Covers TPS core principles (Just-in-Time, Jidoka, the Seven Wastes, K

71 entries

wardley

Intellectual biography of Simon Wardley — strategist, researcher, and creator of Wardley Mapping. Covers the development of his strategic mapping framework, its intellectual roots (Sun Tzu, Boyd, evol

45 entries

weinberg

Intellectual biography of Gerald M. Weinberg (1933–2018) — computer scientist, psychologist, author, and consultant who pioneered the study of the human dimensions of software development. Covers his

115 entries

womack-jones

Intellectual biography of James P. Womack (b. 1948) and Daniel T. Jones — the researchers who coined "Lean" and codified Toyota's methods for Western audiences. Covers the MIT International Motor Vehi

57 entries