Imagine you have only one A4 sheet & pencil for short-term sprint of system design and you know there will be maaany such sprints. As you can see the keypoint is COMPRESSION of ideas and goals. Divide the sheet into two halves: buffer and present areas. After each sprint you should compress achieved and future goals from present to buffer to preserve continuous development and free present buffer. Very important - implement concise scheme or metalanguage of your system to compress ideas from the beginning. It starts with identyfiyng root objects or concepts (also areas) of your system. So, it's basically LINGUISTIC problem.

Balancing short-term cost savings with long-term scalability is like walking a tightrope. One strategy I rely on is designing with modularity in mind—building systems that can grow or swap components as needed, without overhauling the entire architecture. For example, in a past project, we opted for cloud services with auto-scaling capabilities, which allowed us to control immediate costs while ensuring we could handle future demand spikes. I also make sure to invest in scalable tech that may cost a bit more now but saves on costly rework later. Training the team to future-proof designs is another key investment that pays dividends down the line.

Striking a Balance Between Cost Savings and Future Scalability Finding the sweet spot between immediate cost efficiency and long-term scalability is a delicate art. However, it's crucial for building a system that meets today's needs while accommodating tomorrow's growth. To achieve this balance, consider the following framework: Invest in Modular and Scalable Architecture Prioritize Essential Features with Scalability in Mind Automation for Efficiency Performance Optimization Early On By adopting this approach, you'll be able to: - Optimize current expenses - Future-proof your infrastructure - Ensure seamless scalability Invest in a sustainable solution that supports both present and future demands

Keep the architecture simple and easy to develop, with a design that considers decoupling, allowing different parts of an application to scale independently. Short-term cost savings must align with long-term goals, thus saving on training and refactoring.

When designing a system, I would always keep in mind these 4 aspects, & and how one aspect affects the other: (1) HW - architect the system with software roadmap in mind and with potential test pipeline in mind; architect the system in building blocks for reuse and expansion; invest efforts in developing building blocks valuable for future generations. (2) SW - architect the SW with a roadmap & modular design, ensuring compatibility with current HW as well as further HW, ensuring easy reuse and expansion. (3) Test and dev pipeline - similar considerations as (2) (4) Engineering experience - When developing each of the above, prioritize gaining experience & developing expertise that have long term value to the product line.