system-design

To plan high-level architecture and define component boundaries, you sketch the system context and container boundaries from reviewed requirements, then document initial drivers and ADRs to begin architecture work.

Documenting architecture decisions involves creating ADRs for significant choices, outlining trade-offs, and defining fitness criteria to validate the design against ranked quality attributes and architectural drivers.

Mapping component boundaries using the C4 model requires a top-down perspective spanning context, container, and component levels to structure the architecture and define clear integration seams before API design.

Yes, this architecture planning workflow applies to brownfield coexistence by defining component boundaries and documenting integration constraints to ensure new components align with existing systems before technology selection.

You need to rank quality attributes and identify architectural drivers when reviewed requirements or specifications are ready and the team must decide high-level architecture before proceeding to API design or task planning.