Responsible Organization
Transparent decision-making, ethical frameworks and diverse, healthy teams that build the system.
How I approach architecture
Three parts that fit together. Responsible Software Architecture says what a good design has to take care of. The six-step process is how I get there on a real project. Architectural Kata 2.0 is where people practise it.
For each one I say what I contributed and what comes from other authors. The techniques inside the steps, such as Event Storming, C4 or Team Topologies, are established methods, credited where they are used.
- Responsible Software ArchitectureFour pillars a design has to answer to
- Six-step design processFrom requirements to team boundaries
- Architectural Kata 2.0A workshop to rehearse the process
Responsible Software Architecture
The problem: architecture decisions often focus on the technical side alone and leave out people, purpose and long-term impact.
What it is: a framework of four pillars that every significant design decision should be checked against.
Who: I created it in 2024 together with Sebastian Dąbkowski and Wojciech Kasa, my co-founders at Arpeggia Studio.
Responsible Business
Technology choices aligned with sustainable business practice and long-term value for all stakeholders.
Responsible Code
Maintainable, secure and accessible code that follows good engineering practice.
Green Software
Energy-efficient applications that keep their environmental impact low.
Six steps from a brief to a buildable design
The problem: teams jump from a brief straight to technology choices and discover missing requirements, risks and ownership questions too late.
What it is: six steps I developed between 2024 and 2026, each ending with an artifact the next step builds on. The steps themselves rely on established techniques by other authors, credited in each step. My contribution is the sequence and how the steps connect.
See it applied: the examples come from MonitorMe, the design that won the O'Reilly Architectural Katas. See the case study
The steps interlock, like the faces of a Rubik's cube: turn one and the others move with it. When a later step brings new information, I go back and revise the earlier ones.
Step 01 of 06
Functional requirements
What the system must do, for whom, and why the business cares. Before boxes and arrows, I want the key flows and the outcomes they pay for.
- I ask
- Who are the actors? Which flows make money or save it? What happens if this flow is late or wrong?
- Artifact
- Event Storming board, actor and flow map, prioritised capabilities
- Built on
- Event Storming
- Example
- MonitorMe: collect vital signs, show them at the nurse station, alert staff on anomalies, keep 24 hours of history.
Architectural Kata 2.0
The problem: architects rarely get to practise decisions without the risk of a live project. What it is: a one-day workshop where teams take the same business problem through the six steps, use AI agents that question their choices, and defend the result in front of a demanding client. I run it with Sebastian Dąbkowski and Wojciech Kasa.
See the process applied
The examples in the six steps come from MonitorMe, the design that won the O'Reilly Architectural Katas.