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READ BY GOAL

Start with what you want to work on.

Three routes through the articles. Each builds from an idea to a practical exercise. Follow the order, or go straight to the question you’re working through.

PATH 01 · 5 ARTICLES

Designing an AI system

Choose the parts, define the task, give the agent useful context, then apply it to a changing design.

What you’ll work towardsA clearer system design and a task brief you can try with an AI model.

Start this path
  1. 13 min read

    How AI systems fit together

    Choose the model, knowledge, execution and integration parts for a supplier review.
  2. 6 min read

    Skills, MCP, RAG and Memory: How an AI Agent Investigates a 500 Error

    Trace a publishing failure and distinguish the roles of skills, MCP, RAG and memory.
  3. 5 min read

    Giving AI a job description

    Turn that design into a task contract with inputs, limits and an output schema.
  4. 6 min read

    Give AI agents a design reference

    Give a coding agent concrete design references it can use during implementation.
  5. 13 min read

    What is Astra, and when would I use it?

    Apply the approach to a booking migration and follow the decisions when requirements change.

PATH 02 · 6 ARTICLES

Improving business workflows

Understand the work people actually do before changing the software that supports it.

What you’ll work towardsA map of hidden rules, responsibilities and exceptions, with a small improvement to test.

Start this path
  1. 11 min read

    Software should follow the business

    Start with the operation and identify the rules your software needs to support.
  2. 10 min read

    The person missing from the diagram

    Find the people who keep handoffs moving and make their responsibilities explicit.
  3. 11 min read

    What the spreadsheet knows that the system does not

    Extract the rules and local knowledge stored in an everyday spreadsheet.
  4. 15 min read

    The exception path is the real workflow

    Design what happens when evidence is missing, approval stalls or a service fails.
  5. 3 min read

    Kaizen, applied to software

    Choose one small change and decide how you will tell whether it helped.
  6. 25 min read

    Jira and Confluence: From a Business Question to a Working Feature

    Map how work happens with the people doing it, then connect agreed improvements to decisions, Jira work and validation.

PATH 03 · 5 ARTICLES

Making architecture decisions

Understand what software architecture means, model the system, choose useful views, then trace what happens at runtime.

What you’ll work towardsA design you can explain at several levels, from business rules to a running machine.

Start this path
  1. 6 min read

    What is software architecture?

    Understand software architecture: the parts of a system, their responsibilities, and the decisions that connect them.
  2. 5 min read

    Modelling the system before the code

    Model an order process before choosing the implementation.
  3. 25 min read

    The C4 model: architecture at the right level

    Turn the model into architecture views that answer different readers’ questions.
  4. 16 min read

    What happens when you press a computer’s power button?

    Follow the running system down to its foundations: firmware, operating system and processes.
  5. 8 min read

    If AI can build the software, what is the architect for?

    Connect AI-assisted implementation to business meaning, system ownership and a recoverable first release.

Each article includes a prompt, code, commands or a worksheet you can try. Reading times exclude the exercises. Browse all practical resources →

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