Debugging human systems
Engineer effective collaboration by improving the reliability of everyday communication.
You care about doing the right thing—but communicating it? That’s where things get messy.
Maybe your feedback gets misunderstood. Maybe your intentions don’t land the way you meant. Maybe you’ve walked away from conversations thinking, “I’m just not good at this.” But here’s the truth: you already know more about communication than you think.
If you’ve ever diagnosed a failure by looking at interactions, not just individual components, you already know how to approach communication with a systems mindset.
In Debugging Human Systems, you’ll learn how to apply those skills — systems thinking, logical reasoning, precision — to the interactions that matter most.
This program meets you where you are: not with vague advice to “be a better listener,” but with frameworks and metaphors that actually make sense to engineering minds. You’ll walk away with tools to reduce friction, build trust, and communicate with confidence—even when the conversation is hard.
Program elements can be delivered individually.
Program Elements
Keynote
In this talk, Andrea introduces a communication model built for engineering minds. Drawing from a modernized version of the Shannon-Weaver framework, she shows how common breakdowns such as misinterpreted intent, derailed conversations, and dropped context mirror the same kinds of bugs found in complex systems.
Attendees learn how to identify four types of “noise” (signal, language, concept, and relationship), and leave with a new mental model for navigating human interaction with more clarity, confidence, and control.
Workshops
These hands-on sessions meet engineers where they are, bridging the gap between good intentions and reliable communication. Through practical exercises, participants learn how to spot and fix friction in real-time: when feedback isn’t landing, when alignment feels off, or when a conversation feels harder than it should.
Each session introduces a concept, grounds it in systems-thinking metaphors, and shows how to apply it to real-world interactions, without requiring anyone to “perform” empathy or become a people expert overnight.
Advising
For engineers, analysts, or problem-solvers at any level who want to go deeper—individually or with their team. Andrea works directly with your team to untangle the specific interpersonal friction points that are slowing down progress, like unclear feedback loops, recurring misunderstandings, or tension across roles. We’ll work together to co-designs small, high-leverage shifts that improve clarity, flow, and trust.
Workshop Session Descriptions
week 1
The Communication Stack
How can we reduce costly communication breakdowns without dumbing things down or losing nuance?
This foundational session introduces a simple, systems-based model for understanding where and why communication breaks down, especially when things feel tense, awkward, or off. You’ll learn how concepts like signal loss, conflicting protocols, and layered noise show up in human interaction, and how to work with them — just like you would in a technical system.
You’ll leave with a shared vocabulary and mental model for diagnosing miscommunication—and a reminder that your instincts as a problem-solver already give you a head start.
week 2
Reducing Communication Friction
How can we communicate without losing meaning — or momentum?
Even small misunderstandings can throw off trust, timing, or alignment. This session helps you recognize where friction is coming from — whether it’s mismatched mental models, unclear assumptions, or technical jargon that doesn’t translate across roles.
You’ll learn how to spot these issues early, get curious without getting defensive, and build shared understanding without having to oversimplify your ideas.
week 3
Understanding Entropy
How does clarity erode – and how can we respond?
Communication doesn’t always fail dramatically. Sometimes it just… wears down. Context gets dropped. Assumptions shift. Feedback loops stall out. This session introduces entropy as a way to explain how that drift happens and what to do about it.
You’ll explore subtle signs that clarity is slipping and learn how to reintroduce structure without getting rigid. Whether it’s a missed update or a repeated misunderstanding, you’ll gain confidence in catching and correcting small signals before they snowball.
week 4
Navigating Relational Noise
How can we collaborate across differences in style, power, and processing?
People work differently. They process information at different speeds. They hold different levels of power. They read tone, timing, and tension in wildly different ways.
This session gives you a way to recognize those differences without making them personal. You’ll leave with tools to work more effectively with teammates who communicate differently than you do, and build habits that create more psychological safety without being emotionally exhausting.
week 5
Designing Communication Protocols
How can we make communication more reliable — without micromanaging every message?
When you don’t know what to expect from a conversation, it’s easy to overthink or shut down. This session helps you create lightweight communication protocols that clarify how decisions are made, how feedback is shared, and how to keep information flowing without constant check-ins.
You’ll practice designing small agreements (like “who needs to know this?” or “how do we give feedback here?”) that help teams run smoother and reduce second-guessing.
week 6
Debugging Your Human Systems
How can we apply everything we’ve learned to your real-world workflows?
In this final session, you’ll apply the full toolkit — signal clarity, shared language, noise filters, entropy awareness, and protocol design to real communication challenges in your day-to-day work.
You’ll unpack sticky moments from your team, like code review tension, confusing updates, or awkward feedback, and learn how to reframe and improve them with small, specific changes. The goal isn’t to change who you are — it’s to design communication that works for you, not against you.
Ready to debug the communication issues slowing your team down?
Misalignment isn’t a personality problem — it’s a design problem. This program gives your team the tools to reduce friction, build trust, and communicate with confidence — even in complex, high-pressure environments.
Let’s move beyond soft skills and surface fixes and start engineering effective communication.