Contra Goals in Architecture

by Ramaswami Mohandoss

In technology architecture, it's easy to spot a wrong solution but almost impossible to design the perfect system. The primary reason for this ever-changing nature of the solution is its evolution toward staying relevant to the changing business use case. A seasoned architect soon realizes that a sound architecture or design is actually a zero-sum game with "contra goals": pairs of two critical design goals (or priorities), where one priority can only exist by compromising (or even eliminating) the other.