"It can be difficult to see how to de-couple elements. Increasing cohesion, on the other hand, is easier to imagine."
Even if the two practices are the same, I.E. de-coupling and increase cohesion (I'm not saying they are but even if the were), there is a difference in direction. We de-couple away from something, almost fleeing from something. We increase towards something, cohesion.
As people we tend to work better going towards a goal than away from something. So it makes sense on a deeper psychological level as well that it's easier to increase cohesion than to de-couple.
I'm not thinking about cohesion. Or coupling. Or decoupling. My first concern is (single) responsibility. Inside a responsibility I get cohesion. By separating responsibilities I get decoupling.
Something interesting strikes me when I read:
"It can be difficult to see how to de-couple elements. Increasing cohesion, on the other hand, is easier to imagine."
Even if the two practices are the same, I.E. de-coupling and increase cohesion (I'm not saying they are but even if the were), there is a difference in direction. We de-couple away from something, almost fleeing from something. We increase towards something, cohesion.
As people we tend to work better going towards a goal than away from something. So it makes sense on a deeper psychological level as well that it's easier to increase cohesion than to de-couple.
I'm not thinking about cohesion. Or coupling. Or decoupling. My first concern is (single) responsibility. Inside a responsibility I get cohesion. By separating responsibilities I get decoupling.
I also need a way to orchestrate various responsibilities. ... and a way to handle dependencies between high levels policy and details.
Of course that I thinking about cohesion and coupling :), but my practical approach to manage these aspects is based on the above described elements.