Apply concepts from Stakeholder Management to solve a real-world architecture problem.
You are an AI Infrastructure Architect at a [company type]. The organization needs [specific requirement related to module topic].
Context:
- Current infrastructure: [description]
- Pain points: [list of issues]
- Goals: [list of objectives]
- Constraints: [budget, timeline, resources]
Analyze the current state and identify:
- Key challenges and bottlenecks
- Architectural gaps
- Risk factors
- Opportunities for improvement
Deliverable: Written analysis (1-2 pages)
Design an architecture solution that addresses the challenges:
-
High-level architecture:
- Create component diagram
- Define responsibilities of each component
- Show interactions and data flows
-
Key decisions:
- Technology selections with rationale
- Design patterns applied
- Trade-offs considered
-
Non-functional requirements:
- Performance targets
- Security measures
- Cost estimates
- Scalability approach
Deliverable: Architecture diagrams and design document (2-3 pages)
Create an implementation roadmap:
- Phases: Break work into phases (3-5)
- Timeline: Estimated duration for each phase
- Dependencies: What must happen first
- Risks: Potential risks and mitigation strategies
- Success metrics: How to measure success
Deliverable: Implementation plan (1 page)
Prepare a stakeholder presentation:
- Executive summary: Key points in 1-2 slides
- Architecture overview: Visual representation
- Business value: Benefits and ROI
- Timeline and costs: High-level estimates
- Risks and mitigation: What could go wrong
Deliverable: Slide deck (5-7 slides)
Your solution will be evaluated on:
- Architecture quality (40%): Soundness of design, appropriate patterns
- Documentation (30%): Clarity, completeness, visual communication
- Strategic thinking (20%): Business alignment, long-term vision
- Communication (10%): Stakeholder-appropriate presentation
- Start by clearly defining requirements
- Consider multiple architecture alternatives
- Document your design decisions (ADRs)
- Think about operational concerns (monitoring, maintenance)
- Validate assumptions with research
- ❌ Over-engineering the solution
- ❌ Ignoring cost considerations
- ❌ Not addressing security and compliance
- ❌ Poor communication of trade-offs
- ❌ Lack of implementation roadmap
Total: 2.5 hours
- Analysis: 30 minutes
- Design: 60 minutes
- Planning: 30 minutes
- Communication: 30 minutes
- Create a directory:
solutions/exercise-4/ - Include all deliverables:
analysis.md: Analysis documentarchitecture.md: Architecture designimplementation-plan.md: Implementation roadmappresentation.pdf: Stakeholder slidesdiagrams/: Architecture diagrams
- Refer to lecture notes for patterns and practices
- See resources.md for tools and references
- Review case studies for inspiration
Need help? Post in GitHub Discussions or review solution examples in the solutions repository.