Systems design is the process of planning and structuring software systems so they are scalable, reliable, and maintainable. It’s about how different components of a system interact and how the system meets requirements under real-world constraints like traffic, data volume, and availability. In practical terms, systems design answers questions like,
- How do we store and retrieve data efficiently?
- How do we handle millions of concurrent users?
- How do components communicate with each other reliably?
- How do we ensure the system stays available even if some parts fail?
Node-A:: Define Problem & Requirements
The initial phase is where the business problem, scope, goals, and high-level constraints are established.
Node-B:: Gathering User Stories & Use Cases
The process of detailed elicitation, interviewing stakeholders, and documenting specific functional and non-functional needs from the user perspective.
Key Concepts
- Scalability – Can the system handle growth (more users, data, or requests)? -> (Horizontal/Vertical scaling)
- Reliability – Can the system continue to operate even if parts fail? -> (Redundancy, failover mechanisms)
- Maintainability – Can the system be updated or fixed easily? -> (Modular architecture, clean interfaces)
- Performance – How fast and responsive is the system? -> (Latency, throughput, caching)
- Trade-offs – Systems design often involves balancing consistency, availability, and partition tolerance (CAP theorem), or speed vs storage efficiency.
Why It Matters
Good systems design ensures that your application can handle real-world usage, grow without breaking, and stay maintainable as features evolve. It’s essential for building large-scale applications like social networks, e-commerce platforms, or cloud services.
Here’s an excellent book on systems design if you are interested to deep dive.