planning-system-architecture

Validate system architecture by reading PRD constraints to challenge topology, component boundaries, scalability assumptions, and failure modes. This process produces a review-ready architecture specification that prevents incorrect downstream implementation plans and expensive rework.

Architecture sparring rigorously challenges topology design, component boundaries, technology rationale, and coupling to ensure the design is justified. You need it during greenfield or incremental architecture updates to validate assumptions before writing the high-level design.

Draft a complete system architecture specification by populating all 11 architecture sections using a standardized template. This includes documenting system topology, component inventory, integration patterns, infrastructure, ADRs, constraints, and risks based on PRD requirements.

Yes, architecture validation works for incremental updates by reading and validating the existing system architecture document alongside the PRD. It applies explicit sparring to challenge new topology changes and boundaries against the current design.

Downstream implementation fails without early boundary validation because unchallenged topology, technology choices, and scalability assumptions lead to incorrect implementation plans. Validating these constraints early prevents expensive rework and explicitly documents dependencies for Security, Data, API, and DevOps teams.

The best way to document component boundaries and scalability strategy is to write a validated system architecture specification to a standardized markdown file. This explicitly documents dependencies and provides a complete, review-ready output for downstream implementation agents.