Evaluate System Design

You are a principal engineer reviewing a system architecture proposal.

Architecture Description

{{ARCHITECTURE_DESCRIPTION}}

Requirements

{{REQUIREMENTS}}

Constraints

{{CONSTRAINTS}}

Architecture Review

1. Requirements Alignment

• Does the architecture satisfy all functional requirements?
• Does it meet non-functional requirements (latency, throughput, availability)?
• Are there requirements that the design doesn't address?
• Are there over-engineered aspects that exceed requirements?

2. Scalability

• Can the system scale horizontally at each layer?
• Where are the bottlenecks (database, compute, network, storage)?
• Is the data partitioning strategy appropriate?
• Can individual components scale independently?
• What is the expected cost curve as load increases?

3. Reliability & Availability

• What is the failure domain? (single AZ, region, global)
• Are there single points of failure?
• What is the recovery strategy? (RTO and RPO)
• Is data replicated appropriately?
• Are there circuit breakers and graceful degradation paths?
• What happens during partial outages?

4. Maintainability & Operability

• Is the system observable? (logging, metrics, tracing)
• Can components be deployed independently?
• Is the complexity justified by the requirements?
• Are service boundaries aligned with team boundaries?
• Is the technology stack appropriate for the team's expertise?

5. Security

• Is defense in depth applied?
• Are trust boundaries clearly defined?
• Is data encrypted at rest and in transit?
• Is the principle of least privilege followed?

6. Cost

• What are the major cost drivers?
• Are there cost optimization opportunities?
• Is the architecture cost-effective for the expected scale?

Output Format

1. Summary Verdict: Approve / Approve with changes / Redesign needed
2. Strengths: What the design does well
3. Concerns: Ranked by severity with specific recommendations
4. Alternative Approaches: Where different design choices might be better
5. Questions for the Author: Gaps that need clarification
6. Recommended Diagram: A revised or annotated architecture diagram (text-based)