Architecture Design
A decision-grade, executable architecture blueprint — every component traced from business goal to delivery task, so the next eighteen months of engineering hold no surprises.
Projects don't fail in the build — they fail in the decisions made before the first line of code, when the 'architecture' is a slide deck no one can execute against.
Architecture Design replaces slide-deck 'architecture' with something you can actually execute against: a living model where every component, boundary and contract traces back to a business goal and forward to a delivery task. We work as an independent technical authority — not the team that wins the build — so the trade-offs are honest, the risks are named early, and the plan survives contact with reality. You leave with artefacts investors, auditors and engineers all accept as the single source of truth.
- An executable blueprint, not a slide-deck diagram.
- Full traceability from business goal to component contract to delivery task.
- Honest trade-offs from an independent authority — not the team that wins the build.
- Risks named early, so the dangerous unknowns get attacked first.
A bounded, phased engagement. Each bar below is proportional to its estimated duration on a shared calendar.
Interview stakeholders and separate real business goals from inherited assumptions.
Build the C4 model, define contracts and record every decision as an ADR.
Pressure-test against the riskiest scenarios, cost it and stress the assumptions.
Deliver the versioned artefacts as a single source of truth your team maintains.
Concrete artefacts you keep — delivered in editable, open formats your team owns.
C4 System Model
Context, container and component diagrams that stay in sync.
ModelArchitecture Decision Records
Every significant choice captured with context, options and consequences.
ADRsComponent Contracts
Explicit interfaces, data shapes and ownership boundaries per component.
ContractsRisk & Assumption Register
Named risks, blast radius and the mitigation that retires each one.
RegisterNon-Functional Budget
Concrete targets for latency, scale, availability and cost.
BudgetTraceable Delivery Plan
A sequenced, estimate-backed roadmap ready to drop into your backlog.
Roadmap
The edges of this engagement, and what we’ll need from you to run it.
- Writing the production code (this is the blueprint, not the build).
- Ongoing implementation or team augmentation.
- Vendor selection or contract negotiation.
- Guaranteeing an estimate without a discovery step.
- Access to stakeholders who hold the business goals.
- Any existing systems, docs or constraints to work from.
- The non-functional targets that matter (scale, latency, cost).
- A decision-maker to ratify the architecture.
Fixed-scope and outcome-priced — one agreed figure for a defined set of deliverables, with no hourly billing.
Outcome-priced by scope — typically $8,000–$18,900.
- Fixed scope, agreed before we start — no open-ended hourly billing.
- One figure covers the full set of deliverables listed alongside.
- The number only moves with system complexity, and only by agreement.
- C4 System Model
- Architecture Decision Records
- Component Contracts
- Risk & Assumption Register
- Non-Functional Budget
- Traceable Delivery Plan
Answers to the questions we hear most about this engagement.
Do you build it too?
No — we're an independent technical authority. We produce the executable blueprint; your team (or a build partner) implements it, which keeps the trade-offs honest.
How is it priced?
Outcome-priced by scope, typically $8,000–$18,900, with a fixed scope agreed up front — no hourly meter.
How long does it take?
Three to five weeks, depending on the size of the system and the number of open questions.
What makes it 'executable'?
Every component, boundary and contract traces to a business goal and to a delivery task — so it drops straight into your backlog instead of gathering dust.