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The journal
Notes from between the idea and implementation
Writing on cloud architecture, honest cost estimates and the work of turning a rough project description into a plan a team can actually deliver.
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Reading an architecture diagram like a budget
Every box on the canvas is a line item somewhere. Once you see a diagram that way, the conversation with finance gets a lot shorter.
6 min readThe Statement of Work is the real deliverable
Clients do not buy diagrams. They buy a scope, a date and a number they can hold you to, and the diagram is just how you got there.
7 min readMulti-cloud without the theatre
Comparing AWS, Azure and GCP is useful exactly twice: at the start, and when something changes. A short method for doing it without turning it into procurement theatre.
5 min readWhat we learned from the first 500 project descriptions
The shortest was eleven words. The longest was a forty-page RFP. Both produced a working design, but not for the same reasons.
8 min readStaffing a build you have not designed yet
Role mix follows architecture. If you are guessing headcount before the design exists, you are guessing twice and compounding the error.
6 min readNotes on grounding: keeping the model honest
Cross-checking across models, pinning every figure to live provider rates, and refusing to invent a service that does not exist.
10 min readThe hidden cost of the queue you forgot
Async plumbing rarely makes it into the first sketch, and almost always makes it into the invoice. A short field guide to the gap.
4 min readNothing filed under that yet. Try another topic.
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