How to design systems that scale, don't break, and don't bankrupt you—practical patterns from building real enterprise software
After 18 years of building enterprise systems—from startups serving 100 users to platforms handling millions of transactions daily—we've seen every architecture pattern succeed and fail spectacularly.
The truth? Good architecture isn't about using the latest technology or building the most complex system. It's about making pragmatic decisions that solve real problems without creating bigger ones.
This guide distills 18 years and 100+ systems into actionable patterns. No academic theory. No technology evangelism. Just practical architecture principles that work in the real world where budgets are limited, deadlines are tight, and businesses need systems that actually work.
Query time: 30 seconds
Add indexes
New query time: 50ms
Nobody thought about it during MVP
User uploads file → blocks for 30 seconds
Async job queue
Instant response
"We'll add that later" (never happened)
1,000 database queries per page load
Redis cache (99% hit rate)
Database load: 99% reduction
"Premature optimization" mindset gone wrong
Everything in one giant table. 100M rows, no partitioning
Sharding or microservices
Queries from minutes to milliseconds
"We'll never get that big"
One bad API client takes down entire system
Rate limiting per client
System stability restored
"We trust our users"
When? Start simple. Add complexity when needed, not before.
Google's Scale: 1 billion users
Your Scale: 1,000 users
Don't build for Google scale when you're not Google.
Performance optimization comes AFTER you have users complaining.
Plan for 10x your current scale. If you have 100 users, design for 1,000. If you have 10,000, design for 100,000. Don't over-engineer for 100x.
Monolith until you have >20 engineers or clear bounded contexts that need independent scaling. Most companies never need microservices.
Database design. It's the hardest to change later. Get your data model right, add proper indexes, and you'll avoid 80% of scaling problems.
Show the cost. Complex architecture = more bugs, slower development, higher cloud bills. Simple architecture = ship faster, fewer bugs, happier developers.
LTK Soft has spent 18 years building production systems for healthcare, finance, law enforcement, and enterprise clients. We've architected systems handling everything from 100 users to millions of daily transactions.
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