Architecture Review
A fixed-scope engagement in which we study your system, find what will make it slow or fragile as it grows, and give you a ranked plan to fix it. It takes a few weeks and is quoted before we start, so you know the cost and the outcome up front.
Who it is for
- Teams expecting more load A launch, a new market or a big client ahead, and a system that has never been tested at that scale.
- Teams fighting slowdowns Outages and slow responses nobody has been able to pin down.
- Founders and CTOs deciding what to do next Rebuild, refactor or keep going: a decision that needs facts about the current system.
- Companies taking over a system Built by a previous team or a vendor, and now yours to run.
How it works
- Kick-off We agree the scope and the questions you want answered, and get read access to code, infrastructure definitions and metrics.
- Study We read the code and infrastructure, trace the main data flows, measure what we can (latency, load, costs) and talk to the engineers who run the system.
- Analysis We map the architecture as it is, list the bottlenecks and failure risks, and rank them by impact and by the effort to fix.
- Report and walkthrough You get a written report with a target design and a step-by-step plan. We walk your team through it and answer questions.
What you get
- A map of your current architecture and data flows
- Bottlenecks and failure risks, ranked by impact and effort
- A target design and a step-by-step plan to reach it
- A written report and walkthrough, yours to act on with or without us
What we need from you
- Read access to the code and the infrastructure definitions
- Read access to metrics, logs and dashboards
- A few hours of your engineers' time for interviews
- The business context: expected growth, deadlines and budget
After the review
The report is yours. Carry out the plan with your own team, using the written guidance. Have us carry it out, as a fixed-price project for a defined scope or under time and materials. Or decide to do nothing for now, with a clear picture of the risks you are accepting. See how we work for the engagement models.
Common questions
How long does an Architecture Review take?
A few weeks for most systems, from kick-off to the walkthrough. Larger or older systems take longer. We set the length together with the scope, before we start.
How much does an Architecture Review cost?
It is quoted as one fixed price once we know the size of the system and the questions you want answered. Send a few lines about your system and we come back with a scope and a price.
Do we have to hire you to carry out the plan?
No. The report is written so your team can act on it without us. If you would rather we carry out part or all of the plan, that is a separate engagement, priced on its own.
Will you need access to our production systems?
Read access to the code, infrastructure definitions, metrics and logs is enough. We do not change anything in your systems during a review.
Can you review a system built with technology you have not used?
Architecture problems look alike across technologies: where state lives, how services depend on each other, what happens under load and on failure. We review the system at that level, and say so when a finding depends on knowledge of a specific technology.