Debug Your Communication

Reduce friction. Build influence.

Private coaching and peer support for the human side of technical work.

Support for your specific challenges

Debugging Human Communication is a skill-building program designed for detail-oriented technologists who want to scale their impact.

Some challenges our members are focused on include:

  • Securing budget to implement their ideas
  • Navigating conflict with colleagues
  • Leading industry-level conversations
  • Taking on bigger roles and responsibilities
  • Translating implemetation details into impactful messaging
  • ...and more

This isn't just a monthly coaching session. It's a comprehensive peer-support program to help you learn from people who are working on the same challenges you are.

See the full approach →

Design Your Communication Experiment

Get the free 8-step workbook and debug your next difficult conversation

  • Identify the conversation patterns that aren't working
  • Form a testable hypothesis (not just good intentions)
  • Design a concrete experiment you can run this week

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Real Results from Real Engineers

"When I shifted from engineer to entrepreneur, I was terrified. The thought of going to business events and pitching was a huge blocker. Andrea helped me figure out why, and it was the weirdest thing — my clothes.

I thought I had to wear polos, button down shirts, and khakis to be seen as "professional." But I hated wearing them. I'd always felt most comfortable and relaxed in my jeans, geeky graphic tee, and sneakers.

Andrea suggested I experiment with wearing what I liked but swinging by a thrift store before my next event to pick up a cheap sports coat to elevate my look. I was super skeptical, but game for giving it a try.

I had no idea how powerful that small change would be. My confidence soared and I started making sales, introducing myself to strangers, and speaking at conferences. All that from an $8 sports coat? That tiny experiment and tiny investment completely changed my career."

— M. Scott Ford

CEO, Corgibytes

"Andrea understands communication the way I understand code: there are patterns, rules, structure. She sees what I can't see on my own, and helps me build a mental model for whatever I'm facing. What felt chaotic suddenly has structure. Before tactics, she helps me understand myself: what I value, where I stand. Then she gives me a concrete experiment, and the fast feedback loop helps me learn quickly."

— Lada Kesseler

Lead Developer, Logic20/20

"Andrea's coaching is effective because she helps me spot assumptions I didn't even know I had. She helps me design communication experiments that feel way too easy to have such a big impact."

— Ted M. Young

Technical Coach & Creator of JitterTed's TDD Game

"In my Discovery Session, Andrea immediately spotted a tiny detail in how I could frame my message and sent me peer-reviewed papers to back up her claims. When I tried the experiment, I easily persuaded my stakeholders to hire more people for my team — in a hiring freeze!"

— Soumya Kulkarni

MTS, Software Engineering Full Stack

"Attending my company's annual conference sounded like hell on earth for my introverted self. Instead, it was one of the most rewarding experiences of the last few months and probably a peak of my entire life in communication. Now that I've rested, all I feel is the joy and energy of connection — a weird sensation for an introvert!"

— Ellis Lempriere

Associate Software Engineer, OpenSesame

Who This Is For

Let's be direct about fit.

This is for you if:

  • You've built your career on technical excellence and now need communication skills to match
  • You're looking for a peer-support community where you will actively contribute
  • You've tried books and videos but can't seem to apply the advice in the moment
  • You want concrete action steps, not vague and abstract theory
  • You're willing to practice and iterate, not just learn concepts
  • You value experimentation and the scientific method

This is NOT for you if:

  • You're looking for scripts, hacks, or manipulation tactics
  • You want to be told what to say without learning why it works
  • You're not willing to run small experiments and try new approaches
  • You expect results from just attending webinars and workshops, without practicing in real conversations
  • You're hoping to fix other people rather than examining your own patterns
  • You want a one-time fix, not an ongoing practice you build over time

What This Is NOT

This is not therapy.

It can complement therapy, but the focus is practical skill-building, not deep emotional processing.

This is not a personality makeover.

You don't need to become someone you're not. The best communication comes from a place of authenticity.

This is not corporate role-playing.

No awkward exercises with strangers. Real practice with real conversations.

This is not abstract theory.

Everything is applicable immediately to situations you're actually facing.

Experiment Your Way to Better Conversations

Improve human interactions through the scientific method

No scripts. No personality rewiring. Just structured experimentation applied to real work.

See the full methodology →

Coaching and Community

Continuous support so you keep improving — at the level that fits you.

Private Community

Book clubs, deliberate practice groups, and chat channels — learn alongside peers who get it.

Weekly Group Coaching

Everything in community, plus expert-facilitated small group experimentation sessions and a dedicated group channel.

1:1 Coaching

Everything in group coaching, plus dedicated 1:1 sessions and a private channel for individualized support between sessions.

The focus is always on your real conversations, not hypotheticals.

Work with an Expert Communicator Who's Fluent in Tech

No need to translate your challenges. Describe your work in all the glorious detail you want.


Andrea Goulet

Andrea Goulet

Founder & Lead Coach, Debugging Human Communication

Over the past 25 years, I've studied the mechanics of human communication — the patterns, structures, and systems that determine why some messages land and others don't. I've used my particular set of skills to help Fortune 500 companies navigate billion-dollar turnarounds, facilitate workshops with Smithsonian scientists, bootstrap a multi-million dollar software consultancy, and teach over 100,000 people through my courses on LinkedIn Learning.

Read Andrea's full story →

Sample Session Report

Names and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy.

Session Notes: Alex

Date: January 5, 2026 | Duration: ~59 min Attendees: Andrea Goulet, Alex

Overview

Alex spent ~15–16 hours on his blog during the holiday break and feels proud of the progress. The session explored why budgeting 20 hours (vs. 1 hour) shifted his emotional experience from embarrassment to pride, identified a sunk cost fallacy pattern around rabbit holes, and established experiments for estimation and context capture.

Experimental Design

1. Friction Point

Estimating accurately and avoiding rabbit holes that delay launching the blog.

2. Context
Theme Description
Previous session Felt embarrassed about lack of progress when estimating 1 hour for tasks
This session Felt proud after budgeting 20 hours and spending ~15–16
Work blocks Morning sessions continue to be effective; context switching is expensive
Documentation Writing tickets/documentation "doesn't feel like work," contributing to sunk cost trap
Work situation Increased estimation requests at work
3. Variables
Variable Observed Outcome
Time budget (1 hr vs 20 hrs) 20 hrs → pride; 1 hr → embarrassment
Doom scrolling replacement Successfully swapped for blog work multiple times
Breaking work into pieces Easier to estimate smaller chunks
Claude Code for tedious tasks Content import, to-do list generation, redirect script creation worked well
4. Success Criteria
Criterion Status
Blog live In progress
First post published Pending
Proud of visual design Achieved locally
Able to publish new articles Pending deployment
5. Hypotheses
IF THEN
Alex quadruples his gut instinct for estimates He'll avoid disappointment and feel proud of progress
Alex uses Claude Code to capture thinking when hitting a blocker He can avoid sunk cost fallacy and context-switch more easily
Alex breaks big things into smaller pieces before estimating Estimates become more accurate
6. Measurement
Metric How to Track
Actual time vs estimated time Track for each task
Sunk cost trap occurrences Notice when falling in and capture the moment
Blog launch Binary: is it live?
7. Experiment
Behavior Change Expectation
Estimation approach: Before communicating any expectation (external or internal), break the big thing into smaller pieces, apply 4x multiplier to gut instinct, sum the pieces More accurate estimates, less disappointment
Avoiding rabbit holes: When a task exceeds its budget and isn't mission-critical, pause. Capture: goal, blockers, potential solutions. Create WIP commit with to-do list, push to branch, link in ticket Escape sunk cost trap, preserve context without full documentation overhead
Ask: "How essential is this for accomplishing the actual goal?" Prioritize mission-critical work
8. Follow What Works
Past Experiment Effectiveness
Budgeting more time (20 hrs vs 1 hr) Proud vs embarrassed
Morning work sessions Consistent progress
Doom scrolling → blog work swap Successful
Claude Code for tedious tasks Content import, to-do generation, redirect scripts all worked
"If I search and don't find the answer, publish when I figure it out" Content strategy in place

Action Items

Alex:

  • Hide non-essential elements (2 hrs budgeted)
  • Fix broken images in imported posts
  • Complete deployment with staging environment (10 hrs budgeted)
  • Set up redirect links (4 hrs budgeted)
  • Update essential content (remove stock/template text)
  • Write first blog post (favicon generation process)
  • Test everything works (images, RSS, URLs)

Andrea:

  • Post notes in Heartbeat

Planning

Task Estimate
Hide non-essential elements 2 hrs
Deployment + staging 10 hrs
DNS + redirect links 4 hrs
Content updates + testing ~4 hrs
Total remaining ~20 hrs

References

  • Content Collections library — separating content from display
  • Claude Code — content import, to-do list generation, redirect script creation
  • AWS S3 + CloudFront — hosting approach for redirect support

Next Session

  • Did the 4x estimation approach help with both personal project and work estimates?
  • How did the "Claude Code for context capture" experiment go when hitting blockers?
  • Is the blog live? If not, what blocked it?