Programming committee · Interactive lesson

Monolith or microservices?

Make an architecture choice, test it under pressure, and see what it optimizes for.

Step 1 of 5 · Start

Do you want a short primer first?

Give me the short primer Learn the two core boundaries first. I know the basics Skip straight to the architecture choice.

Both paths use the same CSO platform story and decisions.

Monolith

One deployable application contains the product’s main capabilities. It is often simpler to build, test, and operate at first.

Microservices

Several services can be deployed and scaled independently. The team also owns the network, contracts, data boundaries, and observability between them.

Short primer enabled.

Step 2 of 5 · Choose

Which boundary would you choose?

The CSO learning platform is growing. Choose a boundary before the pressure arrives.

Launch

A small team owns courses, auth, search, and progress.

Growth

More contributors arrive and workloads grow unevenly.

Pressure

Now the team must ship, scale, and recover.

one deployable application auth · courses · search · progress

Choose an architecture to continue.

Step 3 of 5 · Test

What happens under pressure?

A team needs to release a new progress-tracking feature.

Choose an architecture to reveal the consequence.

Choose an architecture first.

Step 4 of 5 · Reflect

What did your choice optimize for?

Complete the pressure test to see what the choice optimized for.

Step 5 of 5 · Apply

Try the reasoning somewhere else.

Scenario 01 · Online store

Online store

A small team is building checkout. Correct totals and payment state matter more than independently scaling every feature.

Choose an architecture for this brief.

Takeaway

Architecture is a trade-off, not a trophy.

Start with the boundary your team can understand and operate. Split it when a real constraint—scaling, ownership, or failure isolation—earns the extra complexity.