Aisha asked an AI assistant to "design a scalable, modern architecture for StudyBuddy". It proposed:
9 microservices (auth, users, courses, posts, votes, matching, tutor, notifications, analytics), each with its own PostgreSQL database; Apache Kafka for all communication between services; a GraphQL gateway; Kubernetes with auto-scaling on a public cloud in Virginia (USA); Redis for sessions; a service mesh for security; the AI tutor calls the provider directly from the mobile app to reduce latency.
- List what is reasonable in the proposal (at least two points).
- Identify at least six problems for StudyBuddy specifically — refer to quality attributes, team size and skills, constraints (hosting in China, university IT), cost, privacy and security. One of the problems is a serious security/privacy flaw: find it.
- Propose a simpler architecture (a short description or a diagram in text) that meets StudyBuddy's needs, and say how it keeps the option to grow later.
- Write the first two lines of the ADR that records the rejection of the proposal.