In each country or region, TOSD is going to kick off with a public conference. Here's why
From Bochum to Buenos Aires, Time-Oriented Software Development arrives through a 1-day event that unites experts, practitioners and those curious about TOSD. Our conferences are a counteroffer
by Niels Pflaeging
In September and October, and I worked on articulating Time-Oriented Software Development (TOSD). We attempted to conceptualize TOSD a way that would help others to understand and internalize time-orientation as a concept, and to grasp the importance of flow organizing in tech. At the same time, we began to think hard about how to make the TOSD social technology easy to adopt. Even though TOSD may appear somewhat counterintuitive at first. Early-on, Sebastian and I agreed that we would not aim at creating a massive, scalable training/certification business (like what so many others in Agile or Lean did). The alternative to building a scalable certification business wasn’t so easy to pin down, however.
It took us a while until a “consistently BetaCodex” solution to the problem of introducing TOSD in the real world dawned on us. Sure: The opposite to training/certification can be described as learning-as-a-social-process, combined with openness and connection, complemented through high levels of critical thinking, debating and discourse. But how to make sure all of this is possible, when time-orientation is still perceived as a new and radical-sounding idea?
We concluded that, for TOSD, a purposeful context could only be assured by introducing the concept to countries and markets through on-site public conferences, which would eventually have to happen in every single country or region in which TOSD would begin to stir significant interest. These conferences will sometimes be run in local language, sometimes in English, and sometimes with a blend of languages – depending on local circumstances.
And this is exactly what we are going to do: In every country or region, we will start things off in style - with a carefully curated, conversation-rich conference that people will feel invited to join and to think together about time-orientation and TOSD.
TOSD: training-free and certification-free
There is no other way: While Agile concepts like Scrum were designed to be turned into franchise-like, scalable trainings/certifications businesses, TOSD rejects such notions of cash-oriented qualifications. There is nothing wrong with qualification per sé, of course. But qualification should happen after you changed the system or while you are already changing the system - not as a way of “stocking up knowledge”. Which is what most management, Agile- or Lean-related certifications are, in essence.
TOSD is not going to create a training business, as a bias for trainings would be in stark conflict with the work the system or bias for action approach that the BetaCodex is rooted in. Beta and TOSD have a strong bias for changing the actual circumstances (or contexts) of work through immediate action. We call this change-as-flipping.
We advocate that you should start with time-orientation by working the system,
not by qualifying your people.
Believe it or not: In the world of TOSD, there are no certifications and there are no trainings. You can observe this in the overview of eight kinds of service that we offer to our community and to clients, with the purpose of supporting TOSD adoption.
All services are group-oriented, action-oriented, community-oriented and strong on discourse. No trainings needed.
Beginnings, not certificates.
Discourse, not cramming.
Community, not trainings.
Bias to action, not inclination to produce marketability
Back to TOSD conferences. In the language of journalist Alan Deutschman, the TOSD conferences serve the triple purpose of Relate, Repeat, Reframe: Different than an individual, or group training, or individual certification, a conference allows for:
serious and discursive connection with others – mainly TOSD associates, experts, users, interested parties,
more profound exposure to TOSD philosophy, concepts and benefits, and
integration of the ideas of time-orientation into your thinking.
A conference simply serves a rather different purposes than a qualification. It allows to coalesce curiosity, interest, exchange and learning in a format that goes beyond individual learning and qualification, individual career-building (including “certification tourism”) and polishing one’s resumé.
The very first TOSD conference is going to happen in Bochum, Germany. Naturally. We will be guests at Pradtke GmbH, the company where the first TOSD use case was born in August 2025. The amount of participants is limited to 60 persons.
TOSD conferences in other countries are already in progress. Here’s an overview over the events that are being prepared right now.
TOSD regional conferences that are in the works:
Bochum, Germany. Date: 26 February 2026. In German. Tickets are available from the Pradtke website, for the price of EUR 250,00, plus VAT
Buenos Aires, Argentina. Date: 27 March 2026. In Spanish. Get in touch with
for details & subscriptionSan José, Costa Rica. Date: 2026, to be defined. In Spanish. Get in touch with
for details & subscription
In stark difference to what’s common in the business models of Agile approaches, methods and so-called frameworks, TOSD conferences aren’t going to be highly profit-oriented or expensive. Our conference won’t necessarily be not-for-profit, either. The focus of these events is on making TOSD-related learning social and accessible. We want the conferences to be open, community-oriented and high on discourse.
A final remark
And yes, sure we in the BetaCodex Network should do the same for BetaCodex approaches like Cell Structure Design, Relative Targets and OpenSpace Beta.
Can you imagine organizing the initial TOSD conference in your country or region?
If so, let us know:
For more about TOSD, visit the web page www.timeoriented.dev
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