The AWS Well-Architected Framework, made practical
Decode the six pillars with tangible examples, anti-patterns to avoid, and guided labs that help you ship secure, reliable workloads even after dark.
Pillar playbooks
Actionable runbooks for Operational Excellence through Sustainability pillars.
Anti-pattern vault
Real incidents, their impact, and how we mitigated them with Well-Architected fixes.
Live readiness scorecard
Generate a pillar scorecard and track improvements across reviews.
What is the Well-Architected Framework?
The AWS Well-Architected Framework helps you understand the pros and cons of decisions you make while building systems on AWS. It provides a consistent approach for customers and partners to evaluate architectures and implement designs that can scale over time.
Best Practices
Decades of AWS experience distilled into actionable guidance
Design Principles
Proven patterns for building reliable, secure, efficient systems
Tradeoffs
Understand when to optimize for different outcomes
The six pillars of excellence
Each pillar addresses a specific aspect of cloud architecture
Operational Excellence
Run and monitor systems to deliver business value and continually improve processes.
Common Risks
- ✗No automated deployments
- ✗Manual infrastructure changes
- ✗Lack of monitoring and alerting
- ✗No runbooks for incidents
How to Fix
- ✓Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- ✓Automate CI/CD pipelines
- ✓Set up CloudWatch dashboards and alarms
- ✓Document operational procedures
Hands-On Lab
IaC with CloudFormation
Security
Protect information, systems, and assets through risk assessments and mitigation strategies.
Common Risks
- ✗Overly permissive IAM policies
- ✗Unencrypted data at rest and in transit
- ✗No MFA on root accounts
- ✗Public S3 buckets with sensitive data
How to Fix
- ✓Apply least-privilege IAM policies
- ✓Enable encryption for all data stores
- ✓Enforce MFA and strong password policies
- ✓Use AWS Config and Security Hub
Hands-On Lab
Security Baseline Setup
Reliability
Ensure workloads perform their intended functions correctly and recover from failures.
Common Risks
- ✗Single points of failure
- ✗No backup strategy
- ✗Insufficient capacity planning
- ✗Lack of disaster recovery
How to Fix
- ✓Deploy across multiple Availability Zones
- ✓Implement automated backups
- ✓Use Auto Scaling and load balancing
- ✓Test failure scenarios regularly
Hands-On Lab
Multi-AZ High Availability
Performance Efficiency
Use computing resources efficiently to meet requirements and maintain efficiency as demand changes.
Common Risks
- ✗Oversized or undersized instances
- ✗No caching strategy
- ✗Inefficient database queries
- ✗Monolithic architecture bottlenecks
How to Fix
- ✓Right-size instances based on metrics
- ✓Implement CloudFront and ElastiCache
- ✓Optimize database indexes and queries
- ✓Consider serverless and microservices
Hands-On Lab
Performance Optimization
Cost Optimization
Run systems to deliver business value at the lowest price point.
Common Risks
- ✗Running resources 24/7 unnecessarily
- ✗No budget alerts or cost tracking
- ✗Not using Reserved Instances or Savings Plans
- ✗Orphaned resources accumulating costs
How to Fix
- ✓Schedule start/stop for non-prod resources
- ✓Set up AWS Budgets with alerts
- ✓Analyze and purchase Reserved Instances
- ✓Regularly audit and clean up unused resources
Hands-On Lab
Cost Guardrails in 90min
Sustainability
Minimize environmental impacts of running cloud workloads.
Common Risks
- ✗Inefficient resource utilization
- ✗Running in regions with dirty energy
- ✗No carbon footprint awareness
- ✗Over-provisioned infrastructure
How to Fix
- ✓Use Graviton instances for better efficiency
- ✓Choose AWS regions with renewable energy
- ✓Monitor carbon footprint with Customer Carbon Footprint Tool
- ✓Implement auto-scaling to match demand
Hands-On Lab
Sustainable Architecture
Common anti-patterns to avoid
Learn from mistakes others have made
Single Account Sprawl
Problem: All resources in one AWS account with shared permissions
Impact: Security risks, blast radius, difficult cost allocation
Solution: Use AWS Organizations with multiple accounts for different environments and teams
No Infrastructure as Code
Problem: Manual resource creation through console
Impact: Configuration drift, no version control, slow disaster recovery
Solution: Adopt CloudFormation, CDK, or Terraform for all infrastructure
Missing Budget Alerts
Problem: No monitoring of AWS spending
Impact: Surprise bills, no cost accountability, waste
Solution: Set up AWS Budgets with alerts and regular cost reviews
Weak IAM Policies
Problem: Using "*" permissions or admin access everywhere
Impact: Major security vulnerability, compliance failures
Solution: Implement least-privilege policies with regular access reviews
Download the WAF Review Checklist
A practical checklist to assess your AWS architecture against all six pillars
Need expert help with your architecture?
Book a professional Well-Architected Review with our certified architects
Comprehensive Assessment
In-depth review of all six pillars
Detailed Report
Prioritized findings and recommendations
Action Roadmap
30/60/90 day implementation plan