AWS Well-Architected Framework
Six pillars for evaluating an architecture, covering operational excellence, security, reliability, performance, cost and sustainability, with the specific questions to ask about each. Mostly vendor neutral thinking despite the name.
Guide
System Design
Amazon Web Services
A few days
Intermediate
Free
What it is
A structured framework for reviewing an architecture, organised into six pillars, each with a set of design principles and a long list of review questions.
Why it is useful beyond AWS
The pillars and the questions are largely general. Have you defined your recovery objectives, how do you handle a failed deployment, what is your cost per transaction, how do you detect a security event. Those apply regardless of who runs the hardware, and having a checklist beats relying on memory.
Where it helps in interviews
Cost and operations are the two dimensions candidates most often ignore entirely. Raising either unprompted signals that you have run something in production, and this is the fastest way to learn what to raise.
Best for: engineers working on cloud systems, and design candidates who never mention cost or operability.
Ready to start?
Opens on Amazon Web Services in a new tab.
Stuck on something specific?
Writing only gets you so far. If you want an answer to your situation rather than the general case, book a session and we will work through it together. Every session is free; a few slots open each week.
Follow along
New writing, resources and project ideas land here first.