The coordinated expression of genes lies at the heart of developmental programmes, with complex regulatory networks controlling the spatial and temporal aspects of gene expression. Haematopoiesis (blood formation) has long served as a model process for studying the specification and subsequent differentiation of stem cells and represents the best characterised adult stem cell system. In this review, we outline how the integration of experimental and computational approaches as applied to haematopoiesis has resulted in some of the most advanced models of transcriptional regulatory networks in mammals.