Balancing Coupling in Software Design • Vlad Khononov & Sheen Brisals

GOTO - The Brightest Minds in Tech

This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club.
http://gotopia.tech/bookclub

Read the full transcription of the interview here

Sheen Brisals - AWS Serverless Hero, Engineering Leader & Co-Author of "Serverless Development on AWS"
Vlad Khononov - Author of "Balancing Coupling in Software Design" & "Learning Domain Driven Design" & Creator of the Balanced Coupling Model
RESOURCES
Vlad
https://bsky.app/profile/vladikk.bsky.social
https://vladikk.com
https://github.com/vladikk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladikk

Sheen
https://bsky.app/profile/sheenbrisals.bsky.social
https://twitter.com/sheenbrisals
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheen-brisals
https://sbrisals.medium.com

Links
https://www.informit.com
https://youtu.be/6hTZXR2brWE

DESCRIPTION
Sheen Brisals sits down with software engineer and author Vlad Khononov to explore his latest book, "Balancing Coupling in Software Design". Vlad shares his journey from a failed microservices project to his deep dive into the principles of coupling, drawing insights from a 1970s structured design book.
The duo discusses the timeless nature of coupling in software, how modern systems like microservices and cloud architectures still rely on age-old design principles, and the importance of understanding complexity for better problem decomposition and estimation. Vlad also reveals his unique approach to the book—integrating AI-generated poetry into each chapter to help readers grasp complex concepts. With a focus on modularity as the antidote to complexity, Vlad emphasizes that by managing coupling, engineers can create more maintainable, scalable systems.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Vlad Khononov • Balancing Coupling in Software Design
Vlad Khononov • Learning Domain-Driven Design
Sheen Brisals & Luke Hedger • Serverless Development on AWS
Glenford Myers • Composite/Structured Design
Vaughn Vernon • Implementing Domain-Driven Design
Eric Evans • Domain-Driven Design
van Kelle, Verschatse & Baas-Schwegler • Collaborative Software Design
Nick Tune & Jean-Georges Perrin • Architecture Moderniza

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Chapters

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. Why a book on coupling? (00:02:37)

3. Coupling in modern software architecture (00:05:26)

4. Applying coupling principles to estimation (00:13:52)

5. Complexity, modularity & software design (00:16:28)

6. The failed microservices project (00:19:54)

7. Bringing creativity to technical writing (00:25:20)

8. From complexity to modularity (00:33:48)

9. Outro (00:35:37)