Why I almost didn't build OTF Tech North Stars

I almost didn't build this lifesaver.

For years, every time I joined a new engagement, I rebuilt the same architecture artefacts from scratch. C4 diagrams. ADRs. Cost breakdowns. Security layers.

Different industry, different company, different team — but the same skeleton underneath every time.

Banking. Ecommerce. Logistics. Even game development. Eight countries. Twenty-something projects. The patterns don't change as much as you'd think.

About a year ago I started writing down the patterns instead of just applying them. Partly for myself, partly because the engineers I work with kept saying: "I don't get it, why this decision? Why not this better one?" Partly because I built my startup as CTO, making the same decisions again, for the 21st time.

Decisions, that need their "why" and context so the team buys in and supports all the way.

Not a whiteboard full of boxes. Not a 200-page enterprise framework and endless pages no-one will read. Something they could open, understand in an afternoon, and adapt to their situation by end of week.

That's what an Off-The-shelF (OTF) Tech North Star is.

Off-the-shelf architecture packages — C4 diagrams, ADRs, cost and security angles — for the archetypes I've seen work at the scale that matches certain projects.

Not theoretical. Based on real deliveries, under real constraints, with real teams. From digital channels to full-on enterprise scale systems.

Built for the engineer who needs to stop starting from a blank page and start delivering at the level of a principal leader.

It launches in the coming weeks.

Fun fact. My system diagrams usually live on the team rooms' whiteboards for years, they are so valuable to get everyone aligned in the room. Condensed, well thought out, up-to-date blueprint is king for long running projects.