Part 0: Why Smart Engineers Freeze in This Round

The wrong mindset: the moment you hear "design X," your brain jumps straight to "which database? which cache? should I use Kafka?" β€” technology-first thinking.

The right mindset: "what problem are we actually solving? what's the scale? where will this break?" β€” architecture comes after you answer those, never before.

Part 1: The 12-Step Master Framework β€” The Spine of Everything

Step