Approach
Decisions in writing, before code.
Architecture is a series of decisions that are expensive to reverse. Our job is to make those decisions explicit, argue them on the record, and leave you with documents you can hold us to.
Principles
How we think about the work
The load profile decides, not the trend
Kafka against RabbitMQ, document store against relational, streaming against batch: these are answered by your throughput, ordering requirements, and the size of the team that has to operate the result. We write down the comparison and the reasoning, so the choice can be audited later.
Design for the team you have
An architecture that only its author can run is a liability. We weigh operational overhead as heavily as raw capability, and we prefer a design your engineers can maintain over one that benchmarks better on paper.
Security is part of the design
Identity, permissions, secrets, and database access are settled in the architecture phase. Over-privileged access paths are the kind of defect that is cheap to design out and expensive to discover in production.
Migration is a phase, not an afterthought
Systems that already carry live traffic cannot be replaced in one step. Every target architecture we deliver comes with the sequence for getting there from what exists today.
Engagement phases
A typical engagement
Length varies with the size of the estate. The order does not.
Phase 1
Discovery and target architecture
We assess the existing systems, integrations, and constraints, interview the people who operate them, and deliver the target platform architecture together with the reasoning behind it. Output: a target architecture document and a written statement of the constraints it was designed against.
Phase 2
Detailed component architecture and implementation plan
Component level designs for each area in scope, from integrations and backend services through data, event processing, authentication, and AI integration, followed by the sequenced implementation plan: migration phasing, technical risk register, capacity planning, and a security review of the design.
Phase 3
Design review, iteration, and knowledge transfer
Review of what has actually been built against what was designed, iteration on the designs as the business changes, and transfer of the architectural reasoning to your own engineers. The engagement is finished when your team can extend the architecture without us.
Commercial terms
The business side, up front
| Deliverables | Written architecture documents. Diagrams, schema definitions, interface specifications, comparison memoranda, and implementation plans. |
|---|---|
| Acceptance | Ten business days after delivery to accept in writing or to submit written revision requests. Revisions inside the agreed scope carry no additional charge beyond accrued hourly fees. |
| Fees | Hourly, agreed before work begins. Invoiced monthly in arrears with a statement of hours worked and tasks performed. Net thirty days. |
| Ownership | On full payment for a deliverable, that deliverable becomes your exclusive property. We retain only our own pre-existing methods, templates, and reference architectures, licensed to you where they are embedded in the work. |
| Confidentiality | Mutual, covering trade secrets and confidential proprietary information, with the customary exclusions and a defined survival period. |
| Scope changes | Added, removed, or modified by written statement of work signed by both parties. Nothing moves on a verbal agreement. |
| Termination | Either party may terminate for convenience on thirty days written notice. You pay for work performed through the termination date and receive work in progress as it then stands. |
| Governing law | California. Venue in Los Angeles County. |
These are the standard terms of our professional services agreement. They are summarized here so there are no surprises at contract stage. The signed agreement governs.
Ready when you are.
Discovery is the natural place to start, and it is scoped so you can stop after it if the architecture turns out not to be your bottleneck.