AWS Well-Architected Framework
The AWS Well-Architected Framework helps teams evaluate architectural decisions and identify improvements. It organizes guidance into six pillars:
- Operational excellence
- Security
- Reliability
- Performance efficiency
- Cost optimization
- Sustainability
How to use it
Do not treat the pillars as a checklist detached from requirements. Start with workload goals, risks, constraints, and business priorities. Then use the pillars to expose weaknesses and trade-offs.
Example trade-off
A low-latency architecture may require additional replicas or caching. That can improve performance while increasing cost and operational complexity. The right choice depends on the workload's requirements.
Architecture review questions
- What can fail, and how will the workload recover?
- Who can access data and infrastructure?
- How are changes deployed and rolled back?
- What is the latency and throughput target?
- What is the expected cost at the actual workload volume?
- Which resources can be reduced, scheduled, or made more efficient?