GOTO - The Brightest Minds in Tech
Facilitating Software Architecture • Andrew Harmel-Law & Sonya Natanzon
May 2, 2025
Andrew Harmel-Law, a Technical Principal at Thoughtworks and author, teams up with Sonya Natanzon, Senior Director of Software Engineering at Guardant Health. They dive into fostering decentralized sociotechnical systems and highlight the importance of embracing imperfections in decision-making. The conversation explores psychological safety as essential for innovation and emphasizes adaptability and small iterations. They discuss the balance between creativity and structure in building resilient systems that thrive amid complexity, ensuring accountability and collective ownership.
41:57
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Quick takeaways
- Trust and collaboration foster psychological safety, empowering individuals to share ideas freely and contribute to innovative decision-making processes.
- Decentralized decision-making enhances organizational adaptability, promoting continuous learning and engagement by valuing diverse perspectives and collective input.
Deep dives
The Genesis of a Book
The journey from blog post to book highlights the transformative power of written communication in the technology field. The author, Andrew Harmel-Law, shares how challenges in architectural practices led him to explore the essence of trust in decision-making within software development. His initial experiments with a client led him to understand that the role of trust and collaboration is crucial, fostering a culture that accepts feedback and learning. The realization that a social contract is needed for effective teamwork culminated in the decision to write a book on these insights, ultimately spreading the importance of trust throughout various architectural decisions.
