5 Architecture Decisions That Determine Project Success
After architecting systems for healthcare, gaming, and financial services, I've noticed a pattern: these 5 decisions made in month 1 define everything.
Monolith vs Microservices
Don't default to microservices. Start monolithic if you're validating market fit. Split when team size or deployment frequency demands it.
Cloud Provider Strategy
Multi-cloud sounds good on paper. In reality, pick one (AWS, GCP or Azure), use managed services heavily, move selected workloads only where it truly matters.
Data Architecture
Where does data live? How does it flow? Who owns it? This defines your compliance posture and performance ceiling.
Security Model
Zero-trust or perimeter-based? This decision cascades through every service you build. Choose based on your threat model, not trends.
Observability First
You can't optimize what you can't measure. Instrument from day one. Metrics, logs, traces. Future you will thank present you.
These aren't just technical choices. They're business enablers or blockers.
Getting them wrong costs months and hundreds of thousands in rework.
Building something complex? Let's ensure your foundation is solid.