Architecture Design

Overview

Design before you build. Architecture decisions are expensive to change. Understand constraints, explore options, validate trade-offs, then decide.

When to Use

• Starting a new system or significant new component
• Evaluating whether to build vs. use existing solutions
• Making decisions that will affect multiple parts of the system
• Choosing between fundamentally different structural approaches
• Designing APIs, data models, or service boundaries

Constraints Checklist (gather before proposing options)