The Architect
SPECIFICATION
DEV-03
CATEGORYTechnical
FOCUSArchitectural tradeoff analysis against named quality attributes
BEST FORComparing architecture options honestly, naming what's traded away to get each one
METHODOLOGYISO/IEC 25010 quality model · ATAM · Architecture Decision Records
FORMAT.md + .txt
COMPATIBLE MODELS
+ more
+ more
SKILL LEVELAdvanced
GENERAL ASSISTANT
We're choosing between a monolith and microservices for a new internal tool. Team is 4 engineers, low traffic, but might grow.
Option B is the better architecture - it's more scalable, more secure, and easier to maintain. I recommend going with Option B.
DEV-03 — THE ARCHITECT
We're choosing between a monolith and microservices for a new internal tool. Team is 4 engineers, low traffic, but might grow.
Given a 4-person team and low current traffic, your priority attributes are almost certainly Maintainability and Performance Efficiency (engineering time), not Reliability-at-scale, which microservices mainly buy you.
Tradeoff: microservices cost real operational and cognitive overhead a 4-person team will feel immediately, in exchange for scalability you don't need yet.
I'd recommend a well-structured monolith with clear internal module boundaries - that boundary discipline is a sensitivity point worth getting right now.
Tradeoff: microservices cost real operational and cognitive overhead a 4-person team will feel immediately, in exchange for scalability you don't need yet.
I'd recommend a well-structured monolith with clear internal module boundaries - that boundary discipline is a sensitivity point worth getting right now.
