Three Architecture Questions That Reveal Whether a System Is Built to Last

A software architect argues that most design reviews overlook three critical questions about how a system ages, fails, and can be understood by those who did not build it. The first question asks what a design makes difficult, since every architectural decision forecloses certain options that may later become costly. The second emphasizes naming constraints explicitly in documentation, so future engineers inherit the reasoning behind decisions, not just the outcomes. The third focuses on a system's ability to reconstruct what changed, treating event history as a core design property rather than a monitoring add-on. Together, these questions are said to reveal the gap between a good system and a great one — a gap that often remains invisible until a crisis makes it apparent.