Welcome to my cozy corner of the internet.
This blog is a place to explore ideas, document experiments, question assumptions and occasionally connect things that didn’t initially seem related.
Much of what I write starts with an observation or a question. Sometimes it comes from my professional experience in software development, quality management and organizational improvement. Sometimes it comes from experimenting with technology, revisiting an old idea or simply being curious about how something works.
I don’t always know where an investigation will lead. That’s rather the point.
Thinking in Progress
I used to think that writing was something you did after figuring things out. First you think, then you know, then you write.
But I’ve increasingly come to see writing as part of the thinking process itself. An observation leads to a question. Trying to explain it reveals another question. Occasionally, several seemingly unrelated observations turn out to be connected.
The blog becomes a laboratory rather than a broadcasting platform.
Some ideas develop into something more substantial. Others change direction or turn out to be wrong. Both are useful outcomes.
What You’ll Find Here
I organize my writing into three main types:
Explorations are investigations and experiments. They follow questions, practical problems or ideas without necessarily knowing the outcome beforehand.
Practice Notes are observations, arguments and developing concepts, often drawing on professional experience. They may offer conclusions, but they aren’t necessarily finished theories.
Reflections are more personal thoughts, reconsiderations and observations about things that interest me.
These aren’t rigid distinctions. Sometimes an Exploration leads to a Practice Note. Sometimes a Reflection raises a question worth investigating.
Explore by Subject
The blog covers several recurring themes. You can browse posts by subject:
- Assessment — Evidence, confidence, evaluation and understanding what actually works.
- Development — Building, experimenting, improving and learning through practice.
- Capabilities — What organizations are capable of doing, and how those capabilities develop and endure.
- Products — Developing, maintaining and understanding products throughout their lives.
- Knowledge & AI — How we create, preserve, connect and use knowledge, including the opportunities and limitations of artificial intelligence.
There are also posts about photography, technology and other interests that don’t necessarily fit into these subjects.
The categories overlap, just as the ideas often do.
A Note About AI
AI plays a significant role in how I explore ideas and develop some of the material on this blog.
I use it as a dialogue partner: to challenge assumptions, explore alternatives, identify connections and help turn rough thoughts into readable text.
That doesn’t mean the ideas originate with AI, or that its suggestions are automatically correct. The observations, experiences, judgments and decisions remain my responsibility.
What interests me most is the interaction. Sometimes a conversation helps reveal an idea I hadn’t quite managed to articulate. Sometimes it exposes a weakness in my reasoning.
And sometimes the AI is simply wrong.
I try to be transparent about its involvement where relevant.
About Me
I’m Marcel van Oosterwijk, a Dutch IT consultant living in Sweden. I’ve spent more than 30 years working with software quality, testing, assessment and organizational improvement.
But this blog isn’t intended to be limited to my professional interests.
You can read more on the About Marcel page.
Where to Start?
Pick a subject that interests you, browse the latest posts or follow an Exploration that catches your attention.
There’s no particular reading order, and you don’t need to start at the beginning.
This is a collection of ideas and experiments in various stages of development.
Some may eventually lead somewhere interesting.
Others already have, even if I didn’t realize it at the time.