Balanced Coupling

This is Vlad Khononov's three-dimensional framework for evaluating coupling decisions: integration strength (intrusive to contract), distance (in-process to across networks), and volatility (how often things change). Instead of treating all coupling as bad, it gives you a lens to decide when coupling is balanced or when it will cause cascading changes. The integration strength ladder alone is worth having on hand when you're in a design review arguing about whether to share a domain model or introduce a contract. Pairs well with DDD conversations since it explicitly maps to strategic and tactical patterns. The framework treats complexity as subjective and tied to cognitive load, which feels right when you're staring at a distributed monolith wondering why every change takes three teams.

Install to Claude Code

npx -y skills add vladikk/modularity --skill balanced-coupling --agent claude-code