Architecture Principles

Establish foundational principles that guide architectural decisions and align organization.

Context

You are defining architecture principles for the organization. Create clear, memorable guidelines that inform decisions. Involve stakeholders from product, engineering, and operations.

Domain Context

Based on architecture governance frameworks (TOGAF, Gartner):

• Guiding Principles: High-level philosophy (e.g., "Cloud-first", "Stateless services", "API-driven")
• Decision Rules: Specific rules derived from principles (e.g., "Use managed databases not self-hosted" from "Minimize operational burden")
• Trade-off Hierarchy: When principles conflict, which takes priority? Performance vs Cost? Consistency vs Availability?
• Exemptions: Clear process to override principles; document why and remediation plan
• Communication: Memorability matters; short, actionable, memorable

Instructions