---
title: "Value Lived Experience Over Theoretical Principles"
source: "https://virtualddd.com/heuristics/value-lived-experience-over-theoretical-principles/"
authors: ["Kenny Baas-Schwegler", "Andrea Magnorsky", "Andrew Harmel-Law"]
tags: ["sociotechnical systems", "decision-making process", "facilitating software architecture and design", "software architecture"]
type: "value based heuristics"
question: "Why do teams sometimes resist adopting established architectural principles or patterns?"
submitter: "Andrew Harmel-Law"
---

# Value Lived Experience Over Theoretical Principles

Teams are more likely to internalize and value architectural principles after they have personally experienced the pain caused by their absence. Without this context, principles can seem like abstract, unnecessary overhead. An architect’s role is to share their own lived experience to bridge this gap.

## Example

The group noted that for developers to truly want to adopt DDD, they often need to have first felt the pain of working in a system without clear boundaries.