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Playbook · Strategy and influence · 7 steps
Setting principles and running governance
Keep a large estate coherent without making the architecture board a bottleneck.
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
- 1Guardrails, Not GatesWhat can teams decide on their own within clear boundaries, so review is only for exceptions?Govern by setting clear, ideally automated, boundaries and paved roads, and review only what crosses them, instead of making every change queue for approval.Open
- 2Why Is More Important Than HowDoes each principle explain why, not just what to do?The second law of software architecture: a design only makes sense once you know why it was chosen.Open
- 3Fitness FunctionsWhich principles can become automated checks instead of review items?Protect the qualities that matter with automated checks, so the architecture can change safely.Open
- 4Cognitive LoadDo our standards take load off teams, or add to it?A team can only hold so much in its head; architecture should fit within that limit.Open
- 5Architecture Decision RecordsAre decisions recorded where teams can find and challenge them?Capture the why behind significant decisions in short, immutable records future teams can read.Open
- 6Goodhart's LawAre we measuring compliance in a way teams will game?When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.Open
- 7Disagree and CommitHow can a team challenge a standard, who decides, and what would change it?Argue openly until the decision is made, then everyone backs it fully — including those who argued against it.Open