Kenny (Baas) Schwegler3h ago

Your brain doesn't fail under cognitive overwhelm because it's lazy. It fails because it's doing exactly what it was designed to do: conserving energy by seeking closure as fast as possible.

That's why design sessions get hijacked by naming debates. The room spends forty minutes on what to call a service while the real problem sits untouched underneath. >>>

Show threadKenny (Baas) Schwegler3h ago
In Deep Democracy this has a name: edge behaviour. Not laziness, not bad faith. It's what groups do when the actual conversation feels too risky to have. The uncertainty, the unspoken disagreement, the thing nobody knows how to say yet. Naming a service lets you look productive while carefully avoiding all of that.
>>>
Show threadKenny (Baas) Schwegler

Awareness of this pattern helps, but not enough. Research is direct on this point: it's foolhardy to think we can overcome biases through sheer will. What actually works is nudging yourself in the right direction before the overwhelm kicks in.

Simple rules are that nudge. Not because they make you think less, but because they're the product of having thought carefully in advance.
>>>

6:30amBuffer
Show threadKenny (Baas) Schwegler3h ago

One worth trying: before committing to any design decision, ask "What would make this conversation a waste of time?" It forces the group to surface the assumptions underneath the debate before spending forty minutes on the wrong question.

#SoftwareArchitecture #CollaborativeSoftwareDesign #DomainDrivenDesign #DecisionMaking #CognitiveBias