Architecture Review

Architecture Review

Review the design as it will exist in a year, not the diagram as it looks today.

Method

1. Draw the runtime: processes, stores, queues, and who can fail independently.
2. Name the core domain objects and which module is allowed to mutate each.
3. Check coupling: a change in A should not require a change in C unless they share a contract.
4. Check data flow: every write has an owner, every read has a freshness story, every delete has a tombstone or cascade rule.
5. Check failure: timeouts, retries, idempotency, poison messages, partial commits.
6. Check operability: how you will debug this at 2am with logs and one metric.

Verdict

• Fit — this shape matches the problem.
• Fit with conditions — name the conditions.
• Wrong shape — name the smaller shape that would work.

Do not recommend a new framework, a rewrite, or a service split unless the current module cannot enforce its invariant. Prefer a boring module boundary over a clever one.