Own it end to end.
Architecture, infrastructure, code, deployment and the pager afterwards. Systems fail at the seams between people.
Engineering judgement, not technology fashion.
Six things I hold to when deciding how a system should be built, and what to do when the pressure is on to cut a corner.
Choose boring where it counts.
Technology picked on reliability, cost and maintainability, not on how interesting it is to write about.
Build for real users.
A demo proves an idea works. Production has to survive bad input, partial failure, and someone using it at 3am.
Verify, do not assume.
Automation reports what it thinks it did. Independently checking the resulting state is what makes it trustworthy.
Design for failure first.
Failover, back-pressure and recovery paths go in at the start. They cannot be added convincingly later.
Make it operable.
Infrastructure only one person can run is a liability. The goal is an interface someone else can use safely.