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System Design Challenge

📋 What to Expect

Duration: 60 minutes
Format: Collaborative system design discussion
Challenge: Design a system to handle 1M+ transactions per day

💡 AI Assistance Welcome: Feel free to use AI tools during our discussion.

⚡ The Challenge

The Problem

You're the lead architect for a high-volume transaction platform that's experiencing rapid growth. Currently handling ~100K transactions per day, the business is projecting 10x growth over the next year. The existing system is starting to show strain during peak hours, and you need to design a solution that can handle massive scale while maintaining reliability.

Current System Context

• Current Volume: ~100K transactions/day
• Target Volume: 1M+ transactions/day
• Peak Traffic: 10x average during flash sales and events
• User Base: Global users across multiple time zones
• Business Criticality: Revenue-generating transactions that cannot be lost

Technical Requirements

• Scale: Handle 1M+ transactions/day (100+ TPS peak, 10+ TPS average)
• Performance: <200ms end-to-end response time (95th percentile)
• Availability: 99.9% uptime (maximum 8.76 hours downtime per year)
• Security: Robust data protection, access control, and audit capabilities
• Global: Multi-region deployment with data residency compliance
• Reliability: Zero data loss, transaction integrity, and idempotency

Key Questions to Consider

• How will you handle traffic spikes that are 10x normal volume?
• What happens when individual components fail?
• How do you ensure data consistency across distributed systems?
• How will you monitor and debug issues in production?
• What's your strategy for rolling out changes safely?
• How do you handle different compliance requirements across regions?

🗂️ Session Structure

Phase 1: Requirements Clarification (10 minutes)

• Ask clarifying questions about the business context
• Understand constraints, assumptions, and priorities
• Clarify technical and non-technical requirements
• Identify the most critical success factors

Phase 2: High-Level Architecture (20 minutes)

• Design the overall system architecture
• Identify major components and their responsibilities
• Define data flow and system boundaries
• Explain technology choices and trade-offs

Phase 3: Detailed Design (20 minutes)

• Deep dive into critical system components
• Address scalability, performance, and reliability concerns
• Design for failure scenarios and edge cases
• Consider security, monitoring, and operational aspects

Phase 4: Implementation & Operations (10 minutes)

• Discuss deployment and rollout strategy
• Plan for monitoring, alerting, and debugging
• Consider maintenance, scaling, and evolution
• Address any remaining questions or concerns