Earlier in my career as a solution architect, the design focused around a platform.
If it was about implementing a platform or solution in it, the architecture revolved around this platform.
The platform defined the boundaries, the data model, integration patterns, and upgrade strategy.
A solution architect is accountable for delivering a working solution. The system has limits. It has APIs. It has release cycles. You design within those constraints.
But over the years, my perspective expanded to look at a broader view, the enterprise.
From an enterprise point of view, the system is no the center. The boundaries are not defined by the platform, but by the business. So you start asking, different type of questions instead of “How should this application be structured?” you ask, “What must the organization be able to do?”, then you start getting answers such as:
Onboard new employees.
Resolve incidents.
Manage changes.
Order new hardware assets.
These are business capabilities! then, you start thinking of the design of the system from the business capabilities. Systems change, but capabilities remain. The idea is to protect what stays stable while allowing what changes to evolve.
Jesús Melendez 