LEARN. PRACTICE. GROW.Concept and mechanism
An architecture decision starts by making outcomes, constraints, and success evidence explicit. “Always available” needs translation into critical journeys, a measured population, a service objective, and failure behavior. A function can be available while a payment remains incomplete. Separate functional requirements, such as accepting an order, from latency, integrity, access, and recovery requirements. Record alternatives and tradeoffs in a decision record that can be revisited when context changes. Compare total cost over the agreed horizon, including migration, licenses, people, networking, and decommissioning. Compute savings are not total savings. A growth assumption needs an owner and a way to validate it.
Guided application
In a fictional funds portal, a stateless HTTP API without a Kubernetes API dependency can justify evaluating Cloud Run. If custom controllers and Kubernetes admission policies are requirements, evaluate GKE and a mode supporting them. Neither choice removes connectivity, limits, or operational skills from consideration. A single-threaded application does not become parallel by receiving more CPUs. For middleware migration, confirm support and licensing before assuming a portable image resolves the agreement. Also map remote calls: twelve sequential calls at 25 ms RTT plus 80 ms processing total 380 ms. Extra bandwidth does not eliminate that delay. Use these figures to discuss path changes instead of approving a design already contradicting the 300 ms objective.
€80,000 yearly versus €55,000 plus €50,000 migration: at two years, both total €160,000.
Common pitfalls
Product before requirement; migrated VM as benefit; fast link as absence of latency.
Related topics: Data, resilience, and events · Networking, provisioning, and capacity · Identity, perimeters, and keys
Choose the platform using measured requirements and documented tradeoffs.
Reference: Well-Architected Framework · Current linked standard guide; edition date unconfirmed (2026-09-30 inspection)