Hi!

This week I'd like to shortly discuss a decision making process when it comes to making large system changes, here's a quote and a link to a nice blog post I've read yesterday:

The post above tells the story of a team running a large monolith with one large database which they kept scaling up for years.

At one point, it reached 80% load with short bursts of downtime, but there was nowhere to grow in terms of scale.

This leaves the time with one of two basic options:

1. Redesign the system (microservices? sharding? different DB?)
2. Taking the less exciting path of debugging the source of struggle and slowly improving (code, queries, internal configs)

There's no right or wrong, but a very important statement made in the post and that I find myself reiterating at work is:

Making system changes will be expensive, but not because of technology, mainly for engineering hours and attention.

While the bold statement above is often overlooked, it's not only this should be considered when decided how to make progress, it should also be taken within the context of the situation:

• Is the system on fire?
• Do we expect fires to happen for some time?
• Are we looking at growth? Exponential? Or gradual?

With a clear picture, it's easier to make wiser decisions that are contextual and informative.

This may be obvious to some, but in many cases even senior leaders tend to jump on the latest trend (I know I did) and let enthusiasm take over better judgment.

When I used to be in the consultant's shoes (but often one that had to follow his own advice and implement the changes), it was easier for me to view things through a different unbiased lens, which I try to keep in mind even today.
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​The takeaway here is, what would you do if you were a consultant? What's the context here? How would future-you look back at this decision a year from now?

With that in mind, have a great weekend! And here's a few interesting things I've discovered / read / tried over the past week:

• Dan Slimmon's post: https://blog.danslimmon.com/2023/08/11/squeeze-the-hell-out-of-the-system-you-have/​
• A cool Git CTF to improve your skills: https://www.mrnice.dev/ctf/​

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You can find me on other channels as well:

📺 : www.youtube.com/@devopstoolbox​

🎤 : https://topeaks.buzzsprout.com/​

✍️ : https://omerxx.com/​

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