05 STACK TREE 05 / 07
Systems architecture
Analysis, consulting and a written plan for the system you are about to build or just inherited.
Before the rebuild, it is worth knowing exactly what you have. We map the systems, the data paths and the places where cost and risk are concentrated, then write a plan with sequence, tradeoffs, and the honest option of doing less.
What you get
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01
A current state map
Services, hosts, data stores and integrations, including the ones nobody ever documented.
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02
A findings memo
Single points of failure, capacity limits, licensing traps, and the parts that are fine and should be left alone.
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03
An option set
Two or three routes with cost, effort and what each one rules out later. A recommendation, stated plainly.
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04
A sequenced plan
Phases with their dependencies, so the first step is worth doing even if the rest waits a year.
How it works
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01
Read, then ask
The existing documentation first, then the people who actually operate the thing.
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02
Trace what matters
We follow the critical transactions from the moment they arrive to where they come to rest.
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03
Model the options
Cost and risk against your growth, not against a generic curve from a vendor deck.
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04
Present and defend
A working session where the plan gets argued with, then revised in front of you.
Good fit if
- You inherited infrastructure and its author has gone.
- A vendor has proposed a rebuild and you want a second reading.
- Growth is turning small monthly costs into large ones.
NEXT STEP
Let’s talk it through.
Thirty minutes, no pitch deck. Bring the idea, the deadline, or the thing that keeps breaking.