Our philosophy - Digital Permaculture
Digital Permaculture is the idea that technology, processes and engineering cultures should be designed to grow and adapt over time, rather than being replaced every few years.
It is a coined term, and the philosophy Ologist was founded on. Systems built in a hurry, short-term decisions becoming permanent, and technology chosen for trends rather than outcomes all share the same root: they were never designed to evolve alongside the organisation using them.
Digital Permaculture sits at the intersection of people, culture and technology. It treats a codebase, a team and a way of working as one living system that should keep improving long after a project ends, not a deliverable to be handed over and forgotten.
For the detail of how we apply it on an engagement, see our process.
Our principles - The principles of Digital Permaculture
Over more than a decade working across the public and private sectors, we have found that the problems holding organisations back are most often cultural, not technical. These principles sit at the intersection of people, culture and technology, and bring out the best in each.
- Let engineers engineer. Utilise engineers as the core driver of value and professional leadership in technical roles, allowing them to build a flexible, emergent practice within the organisation.
- Ownership, not management. Ownership means taking responsibility for a programme, management means divesting that responsibility; organisations should foster a culture of voluntary and meaningful ownership.
- Silos are an anti-pattern. Sharing knowledge is vital to Digital Permaculture; establishing practices for sharing expertise and responsibilities encourages resilience and interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Diversity is good for everyone. The best teams are diverse and inclusive, it's as simple as that; and organisations need to go above and beyond to ask the hard questions and engage with non-traditional communities.
- No lies; no pretending. No bums on seats. No warm bodies. Only diverse teams of skilled people making great things together. Transparency and collaboration is the only path to realising Digital Permaculture.
- Flexible, not disposable. Permaculture means thinking of problems in the long-term. Solutions should grow with the organisation over time, avoiding the anti-pattern of intermittent, costly overhauls.
Digital Permaculture in practice
The measure of the work is not the system we deliver, but what an organisation can do with it once we have gone.
The migration took a year. Making it stick took two more. That is what we mean by Digital Permaculture: the job is not moving systems, it is leaving behind teams who can move their own.
Systems that keep improving after the people who built them have moved on. We are proud of the infrastructure. We are prouder of what got built on top of it after we left.
Workarounds becoming standard practice? We should talk.
Our office
- Leeds
The Leeming Building
Leeds LS2 7HZ, United Kingdom