Decide what the system should trust.
Examine source authority, conflicting evidence, freshness, and the boundary between retrieved material and a reliable answer.
Path 02 / Architecture & AI
Make better architecture decisions when the constraints are real.
Explore the choices behind software and AI systems: what data they use, what they can do, how they fail, and what evidence supports the design.
The architectural consequence
Understand what changed and what to do with it.
A capability becomes useful when you can connect it to a decision. Examine the assumptions, compare the options, and identify the evidence you still need.
Make authority explicit.
Describe which actions are permitted, where approval belongs, and how the system handles uncertainty or a partial outcome.
Measure the outcome you need.
Look beyond the happy path. Include retries, review, recovery, and the cost of completing a useful task.
Practical analysis
Work through the decision.
Compare Architecture Alternatives Under the Same Constraints
Use hard constraints, a small evidence table, and a reconsideration trigger to make a design choice that another engineer can examine.
The Request Timed Out. Did the Action Happen?
Design recovery for a refund or booking whose outcome is unknown. Separate a retry from a new business action and reconcile before guessing.
Your Retrieved Sources Disagree. What Should the System Do?
Separate relevance from applicability when retrieved policies conflict. Make authority, scope, effective dates, and uncertainty visible.
Define the Boundary Between an Agent Draft and a Real Action
Specify what an agent may prepare, what authorizes execution, and what happens when approval or verification is unavailable. Includes a printable review worksheet.
Measure Cost per Successful Task Before Optimizing Tokens
Compare two hypothetical AI workflows using the same quality bar, full run cost, and verified task outcomes. Includes a worked calculation.
The architecture challenge
Make a decision. Then test the reasoning.
Work through a published scenario, record your answer, and use the review criteria to examine what you may have missed.
Architecture Challenge 001: The Refund Timed Out—What Happens Next?
An agent submits an approved refund, then loses the response. Design the retry, recovery, and audit trail without turning one customer request into two refunds. Includes a worked answer.
Rohit Bhardwaj
Read article
A look inside the free PDF
Agent Action Review Worksheet
Turn an agent’s proposed action into a review you can test. Begin with the effect, then make its authority explicit.
The complete worksheet adds failure tests, unknown-outcome recovery, and a recorded review decision.
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Name the effect
Describe the exact external change. Identify the requester, organization, resource, recipient, and consequence.
Separate preparation from execution
Allowed read or preparation / External effect requiring authorization
Authority and approval
Which service enforces authorization? What evidence does it inspect? Which action details and validity conditions bind any required approval?
Read the prompts here. Use the PDF to record your own reasoning.
How the material is written
Reasoning you can inspect.
A useful architecture article should help you make a decision, not simply add another term to your vocabulary.
Read the editorial approachState the scenario.
Name the goal, constraints, and assumptions. Label teaching examples as hypothetical.
Compare credible options.
Explain why a recommendation fits and what condition could change it.
Make the next step practical.
Offer an exercise, a check, or a source that helps you test the reasoning.
Continue the conversation
Keep the architectural consequence in view.
You do not need to follow every announcement. Focus on the developments that change a decision, the evidence behind them, and the next question worth asking.
Read the published brief