The architecture of connecting things.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH FIRST
Which system owns each piece of data.
WHY THAT MATTERS MOST
Without it, conflicting updates produce inconsistency nobody can resolve.
WHAT THAT SYSTEM IS CALLED
The system of record.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT
For each entity: which system owns it, and which receive it.
WHAT DIRECTION TO PREFER
One way, from the owner outward.
WHY
Two-way synchronisation requires conflict rules that are always arbitrary.
WHAT TRIGGERS AN INTEGRATION
An event in the source A schedule A user action
WHAT TO PREFER
Events, where available.
WHY
They are timely and proportionate to actual change.
WHAT TO FALL BACK ON
A scheduled sweep, catching what events missed.
WHY BOTH
Events are lost, and the sweep is the safety net.
WHAT TO DECIDE
How failures are handled: retried, queued, or surfaced.
WHAT TO BUILD
Visibility of what is pending and what failed.
WHY
An integration that fails silently is worse than none.
WHAT TO AVOID
Point-to-point connections between every pair of systems Logic spread across several places Integrations nobody owns
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
An owner for each.
