Draft:Time-Oriented Software Development

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Draft:Time-Oriented Software Development


Time-Oriented Software Development (TOSD) is an approach to organizing software development work that places time, rather than capacity or task volume, at the center of coordination and decision-making. It was introduced in 2025 by Niels Pflaeging and Sebastian Kubsch and is published as an open-source social technology under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.

Overview

TOSD is rooted in the idea of consistent time-orientation, a concept originating from time-oriented work systems in industrial and organizational contexts. In contrast to capacity-oriented approaches—where teams attempt to maximize utilization and accept fluctuating delivery times TOSD fixes delivery time and allows capacity to vary in response to demand. The approach aims to create predictable flow, punctual delivery, and a frequent sense of completion in knowledge work.

TOSD is positioned as an alternative to both traditional waterfall models and mainstream agile frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, and scaled agile methods. Its authors argue that these approaches insufficiently address structural issues of time, flow, and coordination in software development.

Core concepts

A central structural element of TOSD is the distinction between conceptualization and realization. These two phases are separated by what TOSD calls the "OK Point", a moment of explicit agreement at which a software item is considered sufficiently clarified to be realized within a fixed and short time frame.

  • Conceptualization involves defining and clarifying what is to be built, including scope, constraints, and the agreed realization time.
  • Realization is the implementation phase and is strictly time-boxed, typically to one, two, or three days.

The OK Point functions as a handshake between these phases and is intended to ensure that realization work can proceed without further clarification or negotiation.

Another key artifact in TOSD is the List of Items. This list contains all work items to be processed, is ordered, and has a designated owner. Transparency of the list is intended to enable self-organization and coordination without centralized control.

Principles

TOSD is defined by seven core principles:

  1. Time orientation
  2. Flow and the OK Point
  3. Transparency
  4. Coherent self-organization
  5. Fixed timing with variable capacity
  6. "Talk To Each Other" (TTEO)
  7. Managerial consistency

These principles emphasize decentralized decision-making, immediate communication, and the replacement of formal roles and steering mechanisms with direct interaction and clear temporal structures.

Relationship to the BetaCodex

TOSD builds on the ideas of the BetaCodex, a body of organizational theory developed by Niels Pflaeging and collaborators. While the BetaCodex addresses organizational design and leadership more broadly, TOSD applies its time-oriented principles specifically to software development. TOSD combines the seven TOSD-specific principles with the twelve laws of the BetaCodex.[1]

Adoption and case studies

The first documented application of TOSD took place at Pradtke GmbH, a German software company based in Bochum. According to published case material, the company introduced TOSD in 2025 during a large software migration effort. The authors report significant increases in throughput and reductions in coordination overhead following adoption[1]. These reports are primarily based on internal case descriptions and practitioner accounts.

Conferences and Community Events

As part of its ongoing dissemination and community-building efforts, Time Oriented Software Development (TOSD) is being presented and discussed at a series of international conferences and practitioner events in 2026. These events focus on exchanging practical experiences, discussing organizational and technical implications of time-oriented development, and connecting software professionals interested in alternative development paradigms.

The announced 2026 conference locations include:

The conferences are intended to provide forums for talks, workshops, and discussions around the principles of TOSD, its application in real-world software development contexts, and its relationship to existing agile and post-agile practices.

Licensing

Time-Oriented Software Development is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. The license permits use, modification, and commercial application of the approach, provided that attribution is given to the original authors and derivative works are distributed under the same license.

See also

References

Pflaeging, Niels; Kubsch, Sebastian (2025). Introducing Time-Oriented Software Development. BetaCodex Network Research Paper No. 26.

References

  1. ^ a b "Introducing Time-Oriented Software Development" (PDF).
  2. ^ "2026 Bochum Conference for Time-Oriented Software Development".
  3. ^ "2026 TOSD Tour Latin America".

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