System Design: Decisions and Tradeoffs

Real system design sessions — a problem, a design under pressure, and an honest debrief.

• When a URL Shortener Becomes a Real-Time Analytics System

  A worked system-design exercise: burst sizing, fast redirects, durable click events, and live campaign analytics without coupling their failure modes.

  10 September 2026 · 5 min read

• Modular Monolith or Microservices? Decide Before You Split

  Choose service boundaries using deployment needs, ownership, consistency, and operating costs. A worked example shows when a separate worker is enough.

  10 September 2026 · 4 min read