Workbook

Make the Mission Yours

Role: Architect

Use these activities to apply each principle to your current product, service, or project. These activities are a sample to get you started, not an exhaustive list. Adapt and expand them based on your team's context and needs. Capture your answers, share them with your team, and revisit them as you learn.

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Important: When Using AI Tools

When using AI-assisted activities, always double-check for accuracy and meaning each and every time. AI tools can help accelerate your work, but human judgment, validation, and critical thinking remain essential.

Review AI-generated content with your team, validate it against real user feedback and domain knowledge, and ensure it truly serves your mission and user outcomes before proceeding.

1) Shared Mission and Vision

Connect your architectural decisions to the mission so you can make trade-offs that serve users and outcomes.

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Learn More

For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 1) Shared Mission and Vision section in the framework.

Workbook Activities (do now)

☐Document how your current architecture decision supports the product mission and at least two user outcomes.
☐Create a simple decision log: for each major architectural choice, note the mission/user outcome it serves and the trade-off made.
☐Review your technical roadmap and annotate each initiative with the user outcome it enables or the mission goal it advances.
☐In your next architecture review, explicitly state how the proposed design connects to the mission and user needs.
☐Pair with a product manager to validate that your technical approach still serves the stated mission and outcomes.

AI Assisted Activities

☐Use AI to help draft architecture decision logs that map to mission outcomes, but have your team review and refine them to ensure they reflect real user needs and business goals.
☐Ask AI to generate potential architectural approaches based on mission outcomes, then validate each approach against direct user feedback and domain knowledge before implementing.
☐Use AI to help structure your architecture documentation tied to mission outcomes, but ensure human team members validate that each architectural decision truly serves the mission before proceeding.
☐Have AI analyze past architectural decisions to identify mission alignment patterns, then use those insights in team discussions to improve how architecture connects to user outcomes.

Evidence of Progress

☐You can explain any architectural decision in terms of mission and user outcomes.
☐Your architecture documents include clear links to mission and user goals.

2) Break Down Silos

Design systems that enable cross-functional collaboration instead of creating technical barriers.

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Learn More

For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 2) Break Down Silos section in the framework.

Workbook Activities (do now)

☐Co-design an API or service boundary with the teams that will consume it; capture their needs and constraints.
☐Run a 30-minute architecture review with product, design, and engineering to align on intent, constraints, and integration points.
☐Document one recurring integration friction and propose a small architectural change to remove it.
☐Invite a developer from another team to review your system design and note one integration risk you can address now.
☐Replace one async design review with a live co-design session to finish the architecture together.

AI Assisted Activities

☐When AI generates architecture designs or system specifications, have cross-functional team members (product, design, engineering) review them together to ensure they serve users and align with mission.
☐Use AI to help draft architecture documentation or API specifications, but ensure all roles contribute their perspectives during the actual architecture review sessions.
☐Have AI analyze architecture handoff patterns and integration friction, then use those insights in cross-functional discussions to improve collaboration.
☐Use AI to help structure architecture collaboration sessions, but ensure human team members make decisions together about what to build and how it serves users.

Evidence of Progress

☐Teams can integrate with your designs without extensive back-and-forth.
☐Your architecture reviews include input from multiple roles and teams.

3) User Engagement

Design systems that serve real user needs, not just technical elegance.

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Learn More

For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 3) User Engagement section in the framework.

Workbook Activities (do now)

☐Observe or review one user session or support ticket; identify one architectural change that would improve the user experience.
☐Map how a user journey flows through your system architecture; identify one bottleneck or friction point.
☐Add lightweight instrumentation to capture how users interact with the systems you design; review after deployment.
☐Collect one direct user quote about system performance or reliability and share it in your architecture review.
☐Identify one assumption you hold about user behavior; design a way to validate it through system metrics or logs.

AI Assisted Activities

☐Use AI to analyze user feedback, support tickets, or system performance data to identify patterns for architecture work, but always validate AI insights through direct user observation or usability testing.
☐Have AI generate questions for user interviews based on your architecture assumptions, then use those questions in real conversations with users to build genuine empathy.
☐Use AI to help summarize user research findings related to architecture, but ensure you review the summaries and add your own observations from direct user interactions.
☐Have AI analyze user behavior patterns from your system instrumentation, then discuss those patterns with actual users to understand the "why" behind the behavior before making architectural changes.

Evidence of Progress

☐You can cite user interactions that influenced your architectural decisions.
☐Your system designs include instrumentation to validate user impact.

4) Outcomes Over Outputs

Measure architectural success by impact on users and business, not just technical metrics.

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Learn More

For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 4) Outcomes Over Outputs section in the framework.

Workbook Activities (do now)

☐Define one outcome metric your architecture enables (e.g., faster feature delivery, improved reliability, better user experience) and track it.
☐Before finalizing a design, note the expected outcome and how you will measure it post-deployment.
☐Create a simple "definition of done + outcome" for your architecture: expected outcome, measurement approach, and success criteria.
☐Add an "expected outcome" section to your next architecture document and share it during review.
☐Schedule a quick outcome review 2–4 weeks after deployment to confirm impact or adjust the design.

AI Assisted Activities

☐When AI generates architecture designs or system specifications, define outcome metrics upfront and measure whether AI-generated architectures achieve intended user outcomes, not just technical completion.
☐Use AI to help analyze architecture outcome data and identify patterns, but have human team members interpret what those patterns mean for users and the mission.
☐Have AI help draft architecture outcome definitions and success criteria, but ensure the team validates them against real user needs and business goals before implementing.
☐Use AI to track and report on architecture outcome metrics, but schedule human team reviews to discuss what the metrics mean and how to adjust architecture based on observed impact.

Evidence of Progress

☐You track at least one outcome for systems you design and review it after deployment.
☐You adjust architectural decisions based on observed outcomes, not just technical metrics.

5) Domain Knowledge

Understand the full ecosystem so you can design systems that fit seamlessly.

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Learn More

For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 5) Domain Knowledge section in the framework.

Workbook Activities (do now)

☐Map all upstream and downstream systems for your current design; document data contracts, failure modes, and dependencies.
☐Create a service map showing front-stage (user-facing) and back-stage (internal services) systems; highlight how your design connects them.
☐Meet with a domain expert (operations, security, compliance, business) and document how domain constraints affect your architecture.
☐Identify one domain rule or constraint that could change your design; confirm it with an expert this week.
☐Review a past incident or outage tied to domain misunderstanding and list architectural guardrails to prevent a repeat.

AI Assisted Activities

☐Use AI to help summarize domain documentation, service maps, or ecosystem constraints for architecture work, but validate AI-generated domain knowledge through direct engagement with domain experts.
☐Have AI generate questions about domain constraints or ecosystem relationships for your architecture, then use those questions in conversations with domain experts to build deep understanding.
☐Use AI to help draft service maps or architecture diagrams, but ensure team members review them with domain experts to verify accuracy and completeness.
☐Have AI analyze past architectural decisions or domain-related issues, then discuss those insights with the team and domain experts to identify patterns and prevent similar problems.

Evidence of Progress

☐You can describe how your architecture affects upstream/downstream systems and users.
☐Your designs account for domain constraints and business rules.

6) The Art of Storytelling

Tell clear stories about your architecture that connect technical decisions to user impact.

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Learn More

For more information and deeper understanding of this principle, refer to the 6) The Art of Storytelling section in the framework.

Workbook Activities (do now)

☐Write a 60-second story for your current architecture: the user need, the technical challenge, your solution, and the outcome.
☐Create two versions of your architecture overview: one for technical teams (details) and one for stakeholders (outcomes and impact).
☐Add a real user quote or data point to your next architecture document to make the story concrete.
☐Present your architecture as a narrative: the problem, the journey, and the destination, with clear user benefits.
☐Record or write a short vignette showing how your architecture improves a specific user experience.

AI Assisted Activities

☐Use AI to help structure or draft architecture stories and documentation, but refine them with real user anecdotes, emotions, and personal observations from direct user interactions.
☐Have AI generate different versions of architecture explanations for different audiences (technical peers vs stakeholders), but ensure each version includes authentic human stories about real user impact.
☐Use AI to help summarize architecture work in presentations, but lead with human stories about real users, using AI-generated summaries as supporting material.
☐Have AI help draft architecture documentation or design documents, but always include real user quotes, data points, or anecdotes that connect your architecture work to human impact.

Evidence of Progress

☐Stakeholders can retell the story of why your architecture matters to users.
☐Your architecture documents include clear narratives that connect technical choices to user impact.