Strategic Architecture Workshops

Facilitate critical architectural decisions that align teams and drive implementation

Overview

Strategic architecture workshops help organisations make complex technical decisions efficiently. We facilitate structured sessions that bring together stakeholders, evaluate options objectively, and document decisions using Architecture Decision Records (ADRs).

Whether you’re planning a major migration, selecting a technology stack, or resolving architectural debates, our workshops provide the framework for confident, well-reasoned decisions.

Why Workshops Matter

Critical architectural decisions often get stuck due to analysis paralysis, stakeholder misalignment, hidden assumptions, or consensus difficulty. The cost of poor decisions compounds over time. A wrong choice early can take months or years to correct.

Our workshops break through these challenges with structured facilitation, objective evaluation frameworks, and clear documentation.

Workshop Types

Technology Selection (1-2 days): Select technologies, frameworks, or platforms. Examples: cloud provider selection, database technology, frontend framework, CI/CD platform.

Architecture Design (2-3 days): Design system architecture for new products or major features. Outputs include microservices strategy, component diagrams, data flow, and API patterns.

Migration Strategy (1-2 days): Plan approach for major migrations (cloud, database, or architecture). Define sequencing, risk mitigation, and success criteria.

Technical Debt Prioritisation (1 day): Assess and prioritise technical debt reduction. Create impact vs. effort matrix, prioritised roadmap, and capacity allocation plan.

How It Works

Pre-Workshop (1-2 weeks before): Stakeholder interviews, research and analysis, evaluation framework preparation, materials and agenda development.

Workshop Execution (1-3 days): Context alignment, options exploration, structured evaluation, facilitated decision-making, and implementation planning.

Post-Workshop (1-2 weeks after): Final ADRs delivered to your repository, workshop summary, implementation roadmap, and 30-day follow-up call.

Architecture Decision Records

Every major decision is documented using ADRs containing: title, status (proposed/accepted/deprecated), context, decision rationale, consequences, and alternatives considered.

ADRs provide clarity for current teams, context for future teams, and knowledge retention for the organisation. They prevent endless debate rehashing and enable informed future changes.

What You Get

• Structured Facilitation: Neutral facilitator, proven frameworks, conflict resolution, time management
• Architecture Decision Records: 3-5 ADRs in your repository with templates for future use
• Workshop Summary: Decision log, evaluation scorecards, risk register
• Implementation Roadmap: Phased plan with dependencies and resource requirements
• Presentation Materials: Executive summary and technical deep-dive decks

Who Should Attend

Required: Technical leadership (CTO, VP Engineering), engineering leads from affected systems, product leadership, executive sponsor with decision authority.

Recommended: Senior engineers, DevOps (if infrastructure involved), security, designers. Optimal size: 6-12 participants.

Who It’s For

• Organisations planning major initiatives (new products, migrations, modernisation)
• Teams facing decision paralysis or conflicting technical opinions
• Companies in transition (new leadership, post-acquisition, pivoting)
• Organisations prioritising technical debt with limited capacity

Workshop Formats

In-Person: 1-3 consecutive days at your office or offsite. Best for complex decisions and team building.

Virtual: 4-6 half-day sessions over 1-2 weeks via video conference with Miro/Mural. Best for distributed teams.

Hybrid: Mix of in-person and remote participants.

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