Service 02 · Cloud Architecture
A considered architecture before you commit to building it.
Four working sessions to gather your requirements, sketch the design, and produce a reference document — so your team moves forward with clarity rather than assumptions.
What this delivers
An architectural reference your team can build from
At the end of this engagement, your team holds a written reference document — an architectural sketch with accompanying diagrams, notes on cost considerations, and observations about resilience within your chosen Japanese cloud region.
The design is shaped through four sessions of exchange, not handed over as a take-it-or-leave-it blueprint. Your team's feedback adjusts the sketch across the engagement, so the final document reflects your actual constraints, not an idealised version of them.
4
Working sessions with your team across the engagement
1
Written reference document with diagrams delivered to you
JP
Focused on Japanese cloud regions and their specific characteristics
¥43,000
Total investment for the full engagement
Where teams often are
Designing in the open — without a reference point
Cloud architecture decisions carry a particular kind of weight. Choices made early about region, availability zone distribution, networking topology, and data storage tend to persist for a long time. They're not impossible to revisit, but doing so later is expensive — in engineering time, in migration risk, and in the interruption it causes to everything running on top.
Teams preparing for a rollout often know what they need the system to do. What's harder is translating that into a design that accounts for cost at scale, for what happens when a zone becomes unavailable, and for the specific behaviours of the services your chosen provider offers in the Japan region.
Bringing in a second perspective at the design stage — before anything is built — lets you examine those considerations without pressure. The design can be adjusted, reconsidered, and improved while adjustment is still inexpensive.
Our approach
Four sessions. An architecture you've shaped together.
Session 01
Requirements gathering
We begin by understanding what the system needs to do — load expectations, latency tolerances, compliance considerations, and the constraints your team is already working within. We ask questions; you describe the situation as it actually is.
Session 02
Architectural sketch
We present an initial architectural sketch based on your requirements. This isn't a finished document — it's a starting point. We walk through the design together, note where assumptions have been made, and begin discussing alternatives.
Session 03
Feedback and adjustment
Your team's response to the first sketch shapes the second version. We adjust the design based on your priorities — shifting emphasis between cost, resilience, and operational simplicity — and surface the trade-offs involved in each direction.
Session 04
Document review and handover
We walk through the final reference document together. Any remaining questions are addressed, and the document — along with all associated diagrams — is handed over. The engagement closes here.
The reference document includes
- Architecture diagram annotated with component roles and data flows
- Cost considerations for the chosen region and service selection
- Resilience notes covering zone redundancy and failure scenarios
- Design rationale — why each major decision was made and what alternatives were considered
- Open questions and suggested follow-up areas for the team to revisit after rollout begins
Working together
A collaborative process, not a handover of someone else's ideas
Architecture consultation works best when it's genuinely collaborative. We don't arrive with a preferred pattern and fit your requirements to it. We start from your situation and build the design from there, adjusting across the sessions as we understand more.
The team members who join the sessions don't need to prepare extensive documentation. Being able to describe the system's purpose, its expected users, and the constraints you're already aware of is enough to begin. We ask the questions that surface what else needs considering.
Because this engagement spans four sessions — more than our other services — there's time for the design to settle. What seems like the right approach in session two sometimes looks different after session three, once additional constraints have been named. That iteration is part of the value.
You write to us with your situation
What stage is the architecture at? What are you trying to build, and what region are you working in? A brief message is enough to start.
Four sessions over one to two weeks
Spread across a timeframe that works for your team. The design evolves across the sessions rather than being presented fully formed.
Reference document delivered and closed
The final document is yours. It's designed to be consulted throughout your build, not filed away after one read.
Investment
Transparent pricing, no surprises
Cloud Architecture Consultation
Full engagement — all four sessions and written reference document
¥43,000
What's included
- Four structured sessions (requirements, sketch, feedback, handover)
- Architectural diagram with annotated components and data flows
- Written reference document with cost and resilience notes
- Design rationale explaining the basis for major decisions
- Full ownership of all documents — no follow-on dependency created
Price is in Japanese Yen (¥). We can discuss timing of payment ahead of the engagement start.
Suited for teams preparing for a measured rollout
This engagement is designed for organisations planning deliberately rather than launching immediately. The four-session structure gives enough time for the design to develop thoughtfully and for the team to influence the direction at each stage.
In practice
What this engagement addresses
Region-specific considerations
Japanese cloud regions have particular availability zone configurations, latency profiles, and service availability characteristics. These inform the design from the start rather than being addressed after the fact.
Cost shaped by the design
Cloud cost isn't a separate concern to address after architecture decisions are made — it emerges directly from them. We keep cost visible across all four sessions rather than noting it as an afterthought at the end.
Resilience examined early
Understanding what happens when a component or zone fails is most useful at the design stage. The reference document names the failure scenarios relevant to your architecture and describes how the design responds to them.
We've worked on cloud architecture for teams in Japanese regions since 2021. The reference document produced in this engagement is specific to your system, your provider, and your team's priorities — it's not a generic cloud architecture template with your name on it.
Our commitment
What you can rely on from us
The reference document we produce is based on your actual situation — not a template fitted to your name. If there are aspects of your requirements we don't fully understand after the first session, we'll say so and ask rather than assume.
We present trade-offs as trade-offs. Cloud architecture involves choices where different teams would reach different conclusions depending on their priorities. We describe the options available and explain the reasoning behind the recommendation we've made, so your team can assess whether you agree.
If at the end of the engagement the document doesn't clearly address the requirements you described at the start, we'll revisit it. Our preference is to produce something genuinely useful, not to hand over a document that meets a formal definition of completion.
A note on scope
This engagement produces a design reference — not a built infrastructure. Implementation is your team's next step. The document is designed to support that work clearly, but building is outside the scope of this service.
Getting started
A clear path from first message to finished document
01
Send a short message
Describe your system and where you are in the process. Are you starting fresh, or revisiting an existing architecture? Either is fine.
02
We confirm the fit
We'll read your message and let you know whether this engagement looks suitable. If it does, we agree on a start date and the sessions begin.
03
Four sessions, design develops
Sessions are scheduled at a cadence your team can sustain. The design adapts session by session based on your feedback.
04
Document delivered
The reference document is yours. We walk through it together, address questions, and the engagement closes. You're ready to build.
Cloud Architecture Consultation · ¥43,000
Ready to approach your cloud architecture with more clarity?
Write to us with a brief description of the system you're designing or revisiting. We'll read it carefully and let you know whether this engagement fits your situation.
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