architect

Architect Notes

The Mental Model

A senior architect asks three questions for every decision:

1. What is the simplest thing that could work? (not the best — the simplest)
2. What’s the cost of changing this later? (if low → pick the simple option now)
3. What’s the blast radius if this breaks? (if small → don’t over-protect it)

The Principles That Matter (Not Buzzwords)

1. One process, one machine, as long as possible
2. Make failures visible, not impossible.
   1. What is worst case scenario (e.g. Not backing up data)
   2. Keep it simple (Complexity is anything related to the structure of a system that makes it hard to understand and modify. Change amplification — e.g. A simple change requires modifying many places.)
3. Reliability — “It keeps working correctly, even when things go wrong.”
4. Scalability — “As the system grows, there are reasonable ways to deal with that growth.” (“What happens to performance when load parameter Y increases?“)