Scope and fit
The most sophisticated architecture is not automatically the safest fit. Choose a platform your team can patch, monitor, restore, and explain under incident conditions.
Start with workload and team constraints
Estimate service criticality, stateful storage, concurrency, deployment frequency, and required isolation. Compare those needs with the team's experience on the target operating model.
Count operational responsibilities
Containers still need a secure host, image provenance, orchestration maintenance, secrets handling, and network policy. Kubernetes adds useful capabilities but also creates control-plane and upgrade work.
Test failure and recovery paths
Prototype restore, node loss, certificate renewal, upgrade rollback, and administrator access before selecting a pattern. Record why the chosen architecture is supportable with current staffing and dependencies.
Decisions and tradeoffs
Use this table as a working review record. Replace assumptions with evidence from the target environment.
| Decision area | Working guidance |
|---|---|
| Start with workload and team constraints | Estimate service criticality, stateful storage, concurrency, deployment frequency, and required isolation. Compare those needs with the team's experience on the target operating model. |
| Count operational responsibilities | Containers still need a secure host, image provenance, orchestration maintenance, secrets handling, and network policy. Kubernetes adds useful capabilities but also creates control-plane and upgrade work. |
| Test failure and recovery paths | Prototype restore, node loss, certificate renewal, upgrade rollback, and administrator access before selecting a pattern. Record why the chosen architecture is supportable with current staffing and dependencies. |
Implementation questions
What should the team decide about start with workload and team constraints?
Estimate service criticality, stateful storage, concurrency, deployment frequency, and required isolation. Compare those needs with the team's experience on the target operating model. Use a named owner and a written acceptance check so this decision can be reviewed after deployment.
What should the team decide about count operational responsibilities?
Containers still need a secure host, image provenance, orchestration maintenance, secrets handling, and network policy. Kubernetes adds useful capabilities but also creates control-plane and upgrade work. Use a named owner and a written acceptance check so this decision can be reviewed after deployment.
What should the team decide about test failure and recovery paths?
Prototype restore, node loss, certificate renewal, upgrade rollback, and administrator access before selecting a pattern. Record why the chosen architecture is supportable with current staffing and dependencies. Use a named owner and a written acceptance check so this decision can be reviewed after deployment.
Plan, build, verify, operate
Start with workload and team constraints: Estimate service criticality, stateful storage, concurrency, deployment frequency, and required isolation. Compare those needs with the team's experience on the target operating model. Record the result and the next owner before changing the next boundary.
Count operational responsibilities: Containers still need a secure host, image provenance, orchestration maintenance, secrets handling, and network policy. Kubernetes adds useful capabilities but also creates control-plane and upgrade work. Record the result and the next owner before changing the next boundary.
Test failure and recovery paths: Prototype restore, node loss, certificate renewal, upgrade rollback, and administrator access before selecting a pattern. Record why the chosen architecture is supportable with current staffing and dependencies. Record the result and the next owner before changing the next boundary.
Deployment checks
Turn the page into a reviewable handover by assigning each check to a person and retaining its result.
Choose a Self-Hosted Architecture That Your Team Can Operate: decision 1
Write down the boundary, owner, dependency, and proof required for choose a self-hosted architecture that your team can operate before implementation begins.
Choose a Self-Hosted Architecture That Your Team Can Operate: decision 2
Write down the boundary, owner, dependency, and proof required for choose a self-hosted architecture that your team can operate before implementation begins.
Choose a Self-Hosted Architecture That Your Team Can Operate: decision 3
Write down the boundary, owner, dependency, and proof required for choose a self-hosted architecture that your team can operate before implementation begins.
Handover and ownership
Before handover, name the system owner, support path, access boundary, backup or recovery responsibility, and the condition that pauses a change.
Keep a short record of what was tested, what remains outside scope, and when the review should happen again.
