Engineering Principles for Reliable Systems

Goal

Establish engineering principles that guide teams toward better technical decisions and prevent common architectural mistakes.

Core Principles

1. Prefer Simplicity Over Complexity

Every complexity level requires clear justification. If you can’t articulate why the complexity is necessary, it shouldn’t exist.

2. Dead Letter Queues Are Not Optional

Every processing queue must have a corresponding dead letter queue.

Without a DLQ, you have no visibility into failures and no way to recover from processing errors. This isn’t about best practices—it’s about operational necessity.

Implementation Notes

Consider separating high-level principles from specific technical decisions (ADRs - Architecture Decision Records). Principles guide thinking; ADRs document specific choices and their context.