As the winter holidays unfolded, I embarked on a journey to address a common challenge faced by software engineering teams: navigating the vast landscape of systems design to find the right tools and concepts for specific challenges. This endeavor culminated in the creation and publication of Systems Atlas — a (soon-to-be) comprehensive systems design knowledge map tailored for developers, architects, and tech leads.

The Challenge: Knowledge Gaps in Systems Design Link to heading

Throughout my interactions with numerous engineering teams across different industries, countries and technical skill levels, a recurring theme emerged: the struggle to use the appropriate tools for specific challenges. Often, this struggle stems from a simple truth—you don’t know what you don’t know. The vast expanse of systems design knowledge can be overwhelming - with concepts, knowledge and tools that cross levels of abstraction, leading to suboptimal decisions and missed opportunities. Engineers tend to use the tools that they are most familiar with, instead the ones that are most suited for the job. This results in the accumulation of technical debt that eventually lead to expensive refactoring processes.

Introducing Systems Atlas Link to heading

Systems Atlas is designed to bridge this knowledge gap with a challenge-first approach. Instead of merely listing tools and concepts, Systems Atlas categorizes them based on the non-functional challenges they address. The symptoms of a non-performant system are typically obvious, so this approach allows one to quickly narrow down the appropriate subset of solutions. This strategic organization allows users to quickly identify the relevant areas of knowledge and delve deeper as needed.

Key Features Link to heading

  1. Challenge-First Categorization: Knowledge, concepts, and tools are organized around the non-functional challenges they can solve, making it easier to find what you need when you need it.
  2. Streamlined Navigation: The intuitive structure of Systems Atlas enables users to seamlessly navigate through various domains of systems design, facilitating a more focused and practical learning process.
  3. Targeted Deep Dives: With the clear categorization, users can selectively focus on areas that are most relevant to their current challenges, allowing for targeted and in-depth exploration.

Empowering Engineering Teams Link to heading

This resource aims to empower developers, architects, and tech leads by providing them with a clear and structured pathway through the complexities of systems design.

Conclusion Link to heading

Systems Atlas is more than just a knowledge map—it’s a tool designed to transform how engineering teams approach systems design. This will greatly benefit professionals who are just beginning to explore the realms of systems design. The goal for the project is to hopefully reduce the rate of technical debt accumulation in our industry as a whole and reduce the cost of expensive rewrites and overhauls.

I invite you to explore Systems Atlas and discover how it can elevate your systems design approach. Please connect with me should you have any feedback!