This week’s theme is simple: the systems you choose will choose what your will become. Design for the behaviors you want, and your culture will follow your architecture.
1) Conway’s Law, In Reverse
Conway’s Law runs both ways: the system you build reshapes your team. Monoliths nurture generalists; microservices can silo; event‑driven cultivates systems thinkers.
Takeaway: use architecture as an org‑design tool, and revisit it when the behaviors it produces drift from your intent.
2) Documentation Empathy
Documentation empathy means writing for how the reader’s mind discovers, not how the code is laid out. Organize by mental models and sequence by questions the lost user will ask.
Try: rewrite one page “for the confused” and link everything else from it.
3) Vulnerability Over Charisma
Charisma is optional, vulnerability is compulsory. Leaders who show their unfinished thinking create space for harder questions and better answers.
Practice: in your next update, share one failure and the decision you changed because of it.
4) Blameless Finds Truth Faster
Human systems degrade gracefully while technical systems fail catastrophically. Go blameless fast—assume good intent, seek systemic causes, and publish learning.
Rule: hunt the condition, not the culprit, and your recovery time (and truth) will improve.
5) The Expectation Effect
Teams rise to the picture in your head. Express trust and then back it with guardrails.
Habit: start reviews with “What do you recommend?” and celebrate decisions, not approvals.
This Week’s Core Message
Design the system to shape the people- embed trust and clarity into architecture, docs, and rituals.
Actionable Experiments to Try This Week
Architecture→behavior retro: list the behaviors your current architecture incentivizes; decide what to keep or change.
Docs empathy hour: rewrite the top entry point “for the confused,” then hallway‑test with two new readers.
Vulnerability minute: post “1 miss, 1 change” every Friday as a leader.