The Architecture Was Fine-Until Everyone Built It Differently
Article summary
We had agreed on the right cloud patterns. We published examples. We even held brown-bag sessions. But six months in, the same problem kept resurfacing: drift. Every service looked a little different. Auth was inconsistent. Logging varied wildly. IAM policies were overly broad-or didn’t work at all. What we thought was standard was actually bespoke. We didn’t have an architecture problem. We had a consistency problem. And no amount of documentation would fix it. Where the Drift Came From We assumed engineers wanted flexibility. They didn’t. They wanted something that worked. Our platform gave them too many knobs-and no paved road. We assumed code samples were enough. They helped one team at a time. But every team customized. They copied without context. Bugs multiplied. We assumed defaults were understood. S3 bucket settings. Kinesis retention. Lambda concurrency.
Read Full Article on MediumPractical takeaway
The main idea behind The Architecture Was Fine-Until Everyone Built It Differently is to help teams move from broad theory to clear, repeatable decision making. When teams apply this thinking, they reduce ambiguity and focus on improvements that deliver measurable momentum.
Example scenario
Imagine a team facing competing priorities. By applying the ideas in The Architecture Was Fine-Until Everyone Built It Differently, they can map dependencies, identify risks and choose the next move that produces progress without destabilizing their system.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trying to redesign everything instead of taking small steps.
- Ignoring real constraints like incentives, ownership or legacy systems.
- Creating documents that do not lead to any change in code or decisions.
How to apply this in real work
Start by identifying where The Architecture Was Fine-Until Everyone Built It Differently already shows up in your architecture or delivery flow. Then pick one area where clarity would reduce friction. Apply the idea, measure its effect and share the learning.
Signs you are doing it correctly
- Teams make decisions faster and with fewer disagreements.
- Architectural conversations become clearer and less abstract.
- Changes land safely with fewer surprises or rework cycles.