Software Architecture and Technical Planning
Practical guidance on system design, technology selection, and technical planning - from an engineer with over a decade of experience designing production systems.
Let's TalkArchitecture Consultancy
We provide software architecture consultancy for businesses and development teams across the UK and Isle of Man. Practical guidance on system design, technology selection, and technical planning - from an engineer with over a decade of experience designing production systems.
Architecture decisions have a longer-lasting impact on a software system than almost any other engineering choice. The decisions made in the first weeks of a project - how components are structured, how data flows between them, where boundaries are drawn, which technologies are chosen - determine how much every subsequent decision costs. Getting architecture right at the start is significantly cheaper than fixing it later.
Every architecture engagement is led and delivered personally by Owen Jones, OLXR's founder and lead engineer. The guidance you receive reflects practical experience of designing systems that work in production under real conditions - not textbook patterns applied without regard for the constraints of your specific situation.
Who This Is For
What We Deliver
System Architecture Design
Component diagrams, data flow design, API boundary definition, and technology selection for new systems.
Architecture Review
Assessment of existing system architecture with specific, prioritised recommendations for improvement.
Technology Selection Guidance
Independent evaluation of competing technologies, frameworks, and platforms for your specific requirements.
Architectural Decision Records
Documented rationale for key architectural decisions that provides context for future development.
Technical Roadmaps
Phased plans for addressing architectural debt or evolving a system's architecture over time.
Risk Assessment
Identification of architectural risks and their likely consequences if not addressed.
Integration Strategy
How the new system connects with your existing tools and data, decided before development begins.
Scalability Planning
Explicit planning for how the architecture handles growth in users, data, and functionality.
Our Approach
Assess Before Recommending
Architectural recommendations made without a thorough understanding of your specific requirements, constraints, and existing systems are not valuable - they are generic advice dressed up as specific guidance. We invest real time in understanding your situation before making any recommendations: what the system needs to do, what constraints it operates within, what the team's capabilities are, and what the cost of different failure modes would be. Only then do we recommend an architectural approach.
Practical Over Theoretically Correct
There is always a theoretically correct architectural approach to any problem. That approach is not always the right one for a specific team, timeline, and budget. We recommend the architecture that is right for your situation - which may be simpler than what current industry fashion suggests, or more sophisticated than what you currently have. The goal is an architecture that your team can build, maintain, and evolve reliably - not one that looks impressive on a conference slide.
Document for the Long Term
Architecture that lives only in the architect's head is architecture that will be misunderstood, ignored, or forgotten as the team changes. We document every architectural engagement thoroughly - the design itself, the alternatives that were considered and rejected, and the reasoning behind key decisions. That documentation is as valuable as the design, because it allows future developers to understand not just what was built but why.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Get Your Architecture Right?
Tell us about your system. We will give you an honest assessment.
Let's Talk