Andrew Harmel-Law

@andrewhl.bsky.social

They/them. Technical Principal at Thoughtworks UK. All opinions are my own (at least I sourced them myself) and don't reflect those of my employer.

What I find interesting — and this isn't visible on the site yet — is that these start to connect with heuristics from earlier episodes. Diana's complements one Paul Rayner shared: make implicit mental models explicit for objective collaboration. >>>

In a recent episode, Diana Montalion shared one that sits alongside it: design experiences instead of explaining more. When people resist change, the instinct is to add more explanation. Rarely works. >>>

Gien's full heuristic: surface value-based preferences before choosing technical solutions. Before evaluating options, dig into what's driving the strong preference. Is it fear of skills becoming outdated? Concern about maintainability? Making that visible changes the whole conversation. >>>

Across all these episodes, what we keep learning is: facilitating architecture means creating the conditions where the real reasons behind decisions can safely surface. That's harder than any technical problem. ....