Constraints That Shape Architecture
The real architecture is often defined by constraints nobody wrote down - compliance, capacity, politics, and past failures.
Every system has constraints. Some are technical. Some are organisational. Many are historical. When constraints stay implicit, teams reinvent designs that were already ruled out for good reasons.
Types of constraints worth capturing
| Constraint | Example |
|---|---|
| Technical | This datastore cannot support multi-region writes |
| Operational | Only two people can safely deploy this service |
| Compliance | Customer data cannot leave this region |
| Historical | We tried event sourcing here and rolled it back after six months |
| Organisational | This team cannot take on another on-call rotation |
Make constraints first-class knowledge. Attach them to services and decisions. Surface them when someone asks how a system works or whether a proposed change is viable.
Design against real constraints
Prodigent brings organisational constraints into the knowledge surrounding your systems and solution work.
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