The Lean Architect - Experimenting Your Way to Better Decisions

Discover how to apply hypothesis-driven development to validate architectural choices and make informed technical decisions as a Staff+ engineer in this 28-minute conference talk. Learn to embrace the lean architect mindset by treating architecture as a series of testable hypotheses that can be validated early when changes are still inexpensive and easy to implement. Explore practical strategies for designing experiments that provide actionable data, including building steel threads - thin, end-to-end slices that deliver value while surfacing critical insights about scalability, system boundaries, and real-world usage patterns. Master the art of asking sharper questions about whether patterns will scale in production, if boundaries enable speed or create bottlenecks, and what actual usage reveals about your architectural assumptions. Understand how to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives effectively by creating space for smarter choices and generating the feedback needed to shape resilient, scalable systems through iterative experimentation and validation.