Your hosts
Andrea Magnorsky
Systems and Functional Programming
Andrew Harmel-Law
Facilitating Software Architect
Kenny Schwegler
Collaborative Software Designer
All stories
Ep 24We Spent Three Months Talking and Got Nowhere Until Someone Picked Up a Marker
by Michael Joyce, Andrea Magnorsky, Andrew Harmel-Law
Most decisions in software teams don't fail because people disagreed. They fail because people thought they agreed, but they didn't — and nobody found out until much later.
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Ep 23She Spent Years Watching Architects Lose Their Spark
by Larisa Feldman, Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler & more
There is a version of career progression that looks like success from the outside and feels like a slow erosion from the inside.
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Ep 22Nobody Could Agree on Whether the Problem Was Technical a DDD Europe Special
by Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler, Andrew Harmel-Law
There's a pattern that turns up in almost every struggling team. The problem gets named as a technical one, the technical fix gets applied, and nothing actually improves.
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Ep 21They Knew the Answer Before They Understood the Problem
by Kim Kao, Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler & more
We've all been in that meeting. Someone senior has already decided on a solution — maybe they read something, maybe a vendor pitched it to them — and now the conversation isn't really about…
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Ep 20We Spent Years Improving the Wrong Thing
by Marco Heimeshoff, Andrea Magnorsky, Andrew Harmel-Law & more
There's a certain frustration that comes from doing everything right — by the book, with experienced people, using proven methods — and still watching it fail.
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Ep 19Everyone Had an Opinion But Nobody Changed Their Mind
by Laila Bougria, Andrea Magnorsky, Andrew Harmel-Law & more
We've all been in that meeting. Someone proposes a solution, someone else proposes a different one, and within minutes the room has split into camps.
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Ep 18Why Drawing the Same System Reveals Different Architectures
by Aino Corry, Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler
We often assume that architects working on the same system share the same understanding of its structure. They're looking at the same code, working with the same components, attending the…
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Ep 17When Method Wars Hide the Real Problem
by Simon Wardley, Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler & more
We fight about Agile versus Six Sigma, build versus buy, in-house versus outsourced. We pick our methodology camps and defend them. But most of these battles miss the point entirely.
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Ep 16When Fixing an Outage Means Staying Out of the Way
by Liz Fong-Jones, Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler
We often assume that resolving a major outage requires centralized command and control—getting the right experts in a room and coordinating their efforts until the problem is solved.
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Ep 15When Explaining More Isn't the Answer
by Diana Montalion, Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler
We hit resistance in our architecture work, and what do we do? We explain more. We create another diagram, write another document, schedule another meeting to walk through the rationale.
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Ep 14When the Loudest Voice in the Room Architects Your Future
by Gien Verschatse, Evelyn van Kelle, Kenny Schwegler & more
It happens more often than we admit: architectural decisions get made not through careful analysis, but because one person in the room speaks louder than everyone else.
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Ep 13The Slow Clap That Killed the Workshop
by Evelyn van Kelle, Gien Verschatse, Andrea Magnorsky & more
We often assume that once we get the session scheduled, the hard part is over. Just get everyone in the room with some sticky notes, and the collaboration will flow.
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Ep 12When Everyone Agrees But Nobody Acts
by Xin Yao, Andrea Magnorsky, Andrew Harmel-Law & more
We often leave workshops feeling good. The room was energetic. People participated. Everyone seemed to agree. Action items were captured and neatly documented.
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Ep 11Misaligned Expectations: When Goals Don't Align
by Beija Nigl, Michael Plöd, Kenny Schwegler & more
We often assume that once we get everyone in a room for a design workshop, the hard part is over. But what happens when the person signing off on the whole thing has a fundamentally…
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Ep 10Modernizing with Respect: Acknowledging the Best Intentions Behind Legacy Code
by Michael Plöd, Beija Nigl, Kenny Schwegler & more
When we kick off a major system modernization, we often fixate on the new tech stack and the shiny architecture. We map out microservices, choose cloud providers, and plan agile sprints.
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Ep 9The Hidden Weight of Rank: How Well-Intended Improvement Sessions can Drive Teammates Away
by Paul Rayner, Andrew Harmel-Law, Kenny Schwegler & more
Welcome to another instalment of Stories on Facilitating Software Architecture and Design. In our conversations, we explore the real-world challenges of building software and leading teams.
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Ep 8The true cost of "The simplest thing to do"
by Krisztina Hirth, Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler
As architects and senior engineers, we often face a difficult choice: when do we intervene, and when do we step back?
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Ep 7The Architect's Dilemma: What to Do When You Disagree With a Team's Decision
by Peter Hunter, Elena Stojmilova, Kenny Schwegler & more
In any organisation that empowers its teams, a critical question eventually arises: what happens when an architect, tasked with guiding the technical vision, fundamentally disagrees with a…
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Ep 6The Path to Team-Led Architecture: From Opinions to Advice
by Peter Hunter, Elena Stojmilova, Kenny Schwegler & more
Making architectural decisions is often seen as the responsibility of a select few—the senior architects who hand down blueprints from an ivory tower.
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Ep 5Decision, Reversal, Frustration: Navigating Governance After an Incident
by Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler, Andrew Harmel-Law
Welcome back to our series of conversations on facilitating software architecture and design. These are stories about the daily struggles we face when trying to facilitate better, more…
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Ep 4Navigating Architectural Indecision: What to do when teams stay silent
by Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler, Andrew Harmel-Law
You gather the team, present a critical architectural decision, and open the floor for input. You are aiming for collaboration, for shared ownership. But you are met with silence.
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Ep 3Uncovering the Ghost Decisions in Your Architecture
by Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler, Andrew Harmel-Law
Welcome to our ongoing series on facilitating software design and architecture, featuring Andrea, Andrew, and Kenny, as we explore the stories that shape our work.
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Ep 2The Reality of Systems Change: Facilitating Architecture with Transparency
by Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler
Welcome back to our series on facilitating software architecture and design, where we dive into the real-world challenges of changing systems.
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Ep 1Stories on Facilitating Software Architecture & Design: Because the Old Ways Aren't Cutting It
by Andrea Magnorsky, Kenny Schwegler
Today we kicked off a new series: "Stories on Facilitating Software Architecture & design." You might be wondering, "Why this now? Haven't we been building systems?" And you'd be right.
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