This essay reflects on my experiences of the past 15 years writing software design patterns and posits that if the patterns community wants to broadly increase pattern literacy, relevancy, and long-term impact, some things need to change. Those changes need to start with pattern writers—like me. Instead of indiscriminately writing ever more patterns, we should focus more on connecting, relating, and refreshing the abundance of existing impactful patterns. Changes also need to be made in how we the community of long-time pattern authors and advocates present and promote patterns to the rest of the world.

This essay was workshopped at the PLoP 2020 conference. Afterwards, this essay was extensively revised to incorporate feedback from the writers' workshop participants and other reviewers. This final version appears in the PLoP'20 Conference Proceedings