Doug Belshaw
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dougbelshaw.com
Doug Belshaw
@dougbelshaw.com
760 followers 760 following 1.4K posts
Helping mission-driven organisations navigate complexity. Consultant, facilitator, and critical friend.
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dougbelshaw.com
Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · Nov 18
👋 Hi, I'm Doug. I deleted my Twitter account in 2019 as I could see the way the wind was blowing.

I'm part of a #coop focusing on #learning, #technology, and #community.

Probably best known for my work on #OpenBadges and #DigitalLiteracies

Currently studying towards an MSc in #SystemsThinking
dougbelshaw.com
Great! Really glad to hear that. Could you expand?
February 10, 2026 at 5:32 AM
dougbelshaw.com
I’m updating the design soon, but can you see the use cases at the link below being relevant for you? 🤔

scheduler.dougbelshaw.com

(Don’t just look at the screenshot!)
Screenshot of part of 'Scheduler' page
February 9, 2026 at 10:07 PM
dougbelshaw.com
"The ones that can update them, though, share structural characteristics that are worth studying, replicating, and (where possible) building into new organisations from the start."
dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw @dougbelshaw.com · 1d
When the world changes, many organisations keep applying old assumptions to new problems.

My latest post looks at the structures that actually help organisations learn to be less wrong.

blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...

#Polycrisis #SystemsThinking #MentalModels
Why some organisations learn to be less wrong (and others don't)
Many of our institutions resemble buildings designed for a different shoreline.
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:11 PM
dougbelshaw.com
When the world changes, many organisations keep applying old assumptions to new problems.

My latest post looks at the structures that actually help organisations learn to be less wrong.

blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...

#Polycrisis #SystemsThinking #MentalModels
Why some organisations learn to be less wrong (and others don't)
Many of our institutions resemble buildings designed for a different shoreline.
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:20 AM
dougbelshaw.com
It turns out I write a longer #weeknote if I'm watching football on TV at the same time

blog.dougbelshaw.com/weeknote-06-...
Weeknote 06/2026
What I've been up to this week.
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:10 PM
dougbelshaw.com
A rough attempt at laying out what in philosophy is most relevant for AI.: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/07/a-rough-attempt-at-laying.html
A collage featuring a vintage illustration of a woman’s head mapped with labeled sections resembling a phrenology chart. The mapped sections are overlaid by a neutral network diagram– depicting crisscrossing black lines. Two anonymous hands extend from the left side, pulling on two wires from the diagram. In the background is a panel of the Turing Machine with numerous knobs and switches, highlighting a connection between the history of computing, psychology, biology, and artificial intelligence.
February 7, 2026 at 7:31 AM
dougbelshaw.com
The heart is ancient and hasn't had any updates: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/07/the-heart-is-ancient-and.html
The best decision I ever made was to be completely useless to a world that insisted all the wrong things were important. If the modern world makes you sick, remember – the heart is ancient and hasn’t had any updates.
February 7, 2026 at 6:54 AM
dougbelshaw.com
The winners will be headless: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/07/the-winners-will-be-headless.html
This image is a collage with a colourful Japanese vintage landscape showing a mountain, hills, flowers and other plants and a small stream. There are 3 large black data servers placed in the bottom half of the image, with a cloud of black smoke emitting from them, partly obscuring the scenery.
February 7, 2026 at 6:50 AM
dougbelshaw.com
🐙
February 7, 2026 at 5:07 AM
dougbelshaw.com
Octopus people: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/06/octopus-people.html
Auto-generated description: An underwater view of octopus tentacles with air bubbles floating around them.
February 6, 2026 at 9:14 PM
dougbelshaw.com
Choo choo!: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2026/02/06/choo-choo.html
Auto-generated description: A series of illustrations compares different leadership and personality styles, including Boss, Leader, Introvert, Introvert with AI, Leader with AI, and Boss with AI, using characters in various modes of transportation.
February 6, 2026 at 9:03 PM
dougbelshaw.com
I'm wondering what I'm even doing on here tbh
February 6, 2026 at 4:31 PM
dougbelshaw.com
Thanks Ryan! Glad it's resonating :)
February 6, 2026 at 4:30 PM
dougbelshaw.com
Yeah but you follow people for one thing then they end up talking politics ad infinitum here
February 6, 2026 at 2:30 PM
dougbelshaw.com
Nouns are important, but verbs (workflows, processes) are too.
February 6, 2026 at 2:30 PM
dougbelshaw.com
I only ever access social networks via their web interface which means I can just close a browser tab until I remember I want to check it again.

No notifications FTW
February 6, 2026 at 12:23 PM
dougbelshaw.com
This is part 2 of my series on mental models in times of polycrisis.

It looks at extended minds and tools - and how they change the way we think and act together.​

blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...

#SystemsThinking #MentalModels #DigitalLiteracies
Building a 'thinking system' to help you be less wrong
If you are trying to practise epistemic humility, but your tools punish revision and reward certainty, the tools will win. You will end up locked into unproductive system which is atrophying your abil...
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:10 AM
dougbelshaw.com
I'm bored with Bluesky. No matter what I try it's just endless politics 😕

Politics, as Oliver Burkeman points out, is *not* the base layer of reality:

substack.com/@oliverburke...
Oliver Burkeman (@oliverburkeman)
There’s an idea I keep circling back to because I can’t figure out exactly how to express it, but iI think it’s really important, and it’s something like this: politics isn’t the base layer of reality...
substack.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:16 PM
dougbelshaw.com
Source: Are.na
Auto-generated description: A solitary tree stands in a sunlit valley framed by large, rugged rock formations with a beam of light illuminating the scene.
February 5, 2026 at 6:03 PM
dougbelshaw.com
"A complex system, contrary to what people believe, does not require complicated systems and regulations and intricate policies. The simpler, the better. Complications lead to multiplicative chains of unanticipated effects.

(Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile)"
February 5, 2026 at 5:59 PM
dougbelshaw.com
I've now discovered how to connect Anytype to Perplexity via the macOS app so I don't bump up against Claude Code usage limits 🤘
February 5, 2026 at 1:21 PM
dougbelshaw.com
I'm finding using Anytype with Claude Code pretty useful

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6J0...
Using Anytype + Claude Code (MCP server) for research
YouTube video by Doug Belshaw
www.youtube.com
February 5, 2026 at 12:53 PM
dougbelshaw.com
“Talk of cognitive bias often sounds like an accusation – as if some people are biased and others are somehow 'objective.' In reality, bias is inevitable when our finite human brains try to cope with a complex, fast-changing world. Our evolutionary hardware just wasn't designed for it.”
February 4, 2026 at 3:43 PM
dougbelshaw.com
Shifting mental models is upstream of policy and personal advice

blog.dougbelshaw.com/mental-model...

#polycrisis #mentalmodels #systemsthinking #complexity
How to be less wrong in a polycrisis
The world is a confusing place. Although the temptation is to seek certainty, the best approach is to become a little less certain, a little more curious, and a lot more willing to revise our judgemen...
blog.dougbelshaw.com
February 4, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Doug Belshaw
antlerboy.com
PhD Studentship: A Systems Thinking Approach to Understanding and Preventing Male Suicide – SHORT DEADLINE stream.syscoi.com/2026/02/03/p...
PhD Studentship: A Systems Thinking Approach to Understanding and Preventing Male Suicide – SHORT DEADLINE
via Steve Hales at SCiO, who says: Please be aware of this opportunity. Unfortunately the deadline I only a couple of weeks off. Please click on the link to apply: PhD Studentship: A Systems Thinki…
stream.syscoi.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:05 PM