An observation... there are order of magnitude differences in developer productivity, and a big gap in between - like a place where people get stuck and those that make a huge leap.
Of the people I've observed, it seems like there's a substantial difference in the idea of what makes a better design, as well as an ability to create more options. Those that don't make the leap tend to be bound to a set of operating rules and practices that heavily constrain their thinking. Think about how software practices are taught... I see the focus on behavior-focused "best practices" without thinking tools as something that has stunted the learning and development of our industry.
Is it possible to learn a mental model such that we can evaluate "better" that doesn't rely on heuristics and best practice tricks? If we have such a model, does it allow us to see more options, connect more ideas?
This has been my focus with mentoring - to see if I could teach this "model." More specifically a definition of "better" that means optimizing for cognitive flow. But since its not anything static, I've focused on tools of observation. By building awareness of how the design affects that flow, we can learn to optimize it for the humans.
A "better" software design is one that allows ideas to flow out of the software, and into the software more easily.
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