Empowering Teams to Make Architectural Decisions • Andrew Harmel-Law • YOW! 2025

This presentation was recorded at YOW! Australia 2025. #GOTOcon #YOW
https://yowcon.com

Andrew Harmel-Law - Technical Principal at Thoughtworks & Author of "Facilitating Software Architecture" @AndrewHarmelLaw 

ORIGINAL TALK TITLE
Facilitating Software Architecture: Empowering Teams to Make Architectural Decisions

RESOURCES
https://bsky.app/profile/andrewhl.bsky.social
https://twit.social/@ahl
https://x.com/al94781
https://github.com/andrewharmellaw
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewharmellaw
https://andrewharmellaw.github.io

Links
https://facilitatingsoftwarearchitecture.com
https://martinfowler.com/articles/scaling-architecture-conversationally.html

ABSTRACT
In this talk, Andrew explores key concepts from his book, fostering decentralized sociotechnical systems, emphasizing the importance of embracing imperfection in decision-making, and combating cognitive biases like the framing effect. He will highlight the shift to prioritizing learning, adaptability, and small, fast iterations in socio-technical systems.

Andrew will also discuss psychological safety as vital for empowering teams to innovate while maintaining accountability, advocating for experimentation and collective ownership of evolving codebases. He will underline the importance of balancing creativity and structure to build resilient, adaptive systems that thrive in complexity. [...]

TIMECODES
00:00 Intro
05:02 Short version:Thinking like a software architect
15:56 Long version
18:24 Lightweight ADRs (Architecture Decision Records)
29:22 Architectural advice forum
36:19 How to fail
40:30 Summary
41:35 Outro

Download slides and read the full abstract here:
https://yowcon.com/brisbane-2025/sessions/3886

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Andrew Harmel-Law • Facilitating Software Architecture • https://amzn.eu/d/5kZKVfU
Gregor Hohpe • The Software Architect Elevator • https://amzn.to/3F6d2ax
Barry O'Reilly • Residues • https://leanpub.com/residuality
Barry O'Reilly • The Architect's Paradox • https://leanpub.com/architectsparadox

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