---
title: "System Design: Decisions and Tradeoffs"
seo_title: "System Design: Decisions and Tradeoffs — Dan Podina"
url: https://danpodina.com/designs/
lastmod: 2026-09-10
---

# System Design: Decisions and Tradeoffs

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




## Pages

- [Modular Monolith or Microservices? Decide Before You Split](https://danpodina.com/designs/modular-monolith-vs-microservices/index.md): Choose service boundaries using deployment needs, ownership, consistency, and operating costs. A worked example shows when a separate worker is enough.
- [When a URL Shortener Becomes a Real-Time Analytics System](https://danpodina.com/designs/url-shortener/index.md): A worked system-design exercise: burst sizing, fast redirects, durable click events, and live campaign analytics without coupling their failure modes.