W20 - The Positive Logical Closed Loop of Selection

Recently, while doing architecture governance for a merchant platform, I gained a valuable perspective: assembling solutions from the bottom up. Compared with last year, after abstracting the problem I now look for cross-cutting solutions on a broader scale. But when creating a design, I sometimes fall into the trap of applying a specific template. My design thinking often takes the form: because there is a benchmark solution, I must do X. That lack of focus on the actual problem leads to choices that don’t withstand forward logical scrutiny. A better way to think is: because I need to solve a particular problem, I must achieve a certain solution. The key is decomposing and analyzing existing projects and engineering work; horizontal patterns offer ideas and inspiration, but actually solving the problem tests your ability to gather large amounts of information and assemble an appropriate solution.