Case study / Strategic architecture

Architecture and prototyping for a satellite communications platform initiative

Engagement: 6 months, deliveredSector: Satellite communicationsRole: Technical Architect (contract)

A satellite communications operator working with two of the world's largest enterprise vendors brought us in to lead the architecture and rapid prototyping work for a strategic platform initiative. The engagement was the unsexy but load-bearing kind: scope the unknowns, prototype the riskiest decisions in code, deliver the team-scale estimates, the risk register, and the architectural recommendations the client and the partner firms would actually commit a multi-year programme to.

The brief

The client was evaluating a strategic platform decision in partnership with two of the largest enterprise vendors in the world. The room was full of consultants. What was missing was somebody to do the rapid-prototype work that turns "the architecture should look like this" into "we built a working slice of it in two weeks and here is what broke." That was our job. The constraint was time: six months to deliver enough prototype work and architectural detail that the client could make a confident go-or-stop decision and, if go, brief the implementation phase to the partner firms with credible scope, team-scale, and risk numbers.

The scope

Rapid architectural prototypes. Code-level prototypes of the riskiest parts of the proposed system. Built with off-the-shelf open-source libraries where they fit, custom only where the off-the-shelf option failed under realistic load or shape.

Architecture recommendations. A written architecture position, defended in technical review with the partner firms. What the client should commit to, what was still uncertain, where the architecture should leave optionality versus where it should commit.

Team-scale and time estimates. Honest numbers on what shipping the proposed architecture actually takes. No vendor-favourable padding. The client used these numbers to negotiate with the partner firms.

Risk register and mitigation plan. Architectural risks ranked. Vendor-dependency risks paired with mitigations the client could action.

The outcome

  • Six months of prototyping and architecture delivered against a fixed scope and timeline.
  • Client made the strategic platform decision with the architectural detail to defend it internally and to the partner firms.
  • The programme proceeded with team-scale estimates the client could hold the partners to.
  • The work continued independently after our engagement closed, on the architecture position we delivered.

What we learned, applied across our other work

Prototype the unknowns first, not the showcase parts. Real strategic value is in stress-testing the parts the team is least sure about. The boring prototype that proves the message bus actually scales is worth more than the demo that lights up a UI.

Off-the-shelf where it fits. Custom only where it has to. The instinct on greenfield platforms is to build everything bespoke. The right pattern is to use open-source and vendor-provided libraries by default.

Honest team-scale estimates win programmes that vendor-favourable estimates lose. Six months later the cheaper number's programme is in trouble. Honest numbers protect everyone.

Architecture defends itself with code. Architecture documents are inert. Architecture documents accompanied by working prototypes that demonstrate the proposed structure are not.

Tech stack

Prototyping

Microsoft AzureJavaScriptOpen-source library evaluation

Architecture

WireframingUI modellingProcess flow modellingSequence diagrams

Decision support

Team-scale estimatesRisk registersDefended architecture position

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