Online course
The arc42 workshop, as a course you can take at your own pace.
The same material as the live day, split into short lessons: slides you control, a transcript for every slide, questions that make you recall what you learned, and the Doubles-to-Go worked example to read and run.
This is the workshop’s slides, notes and exercises turned into self-study lessons. It is not a certification, and it is not a presenter on camera. What it cannot give you is feedback on your own system: that is what the live day is for.
Architecture is trade-offs
| Decision | Gains | Costs |
|---|---|---|
| Cache data on the phone | Faster screens | Data may be stale |
| Queue payment confirmations | Survives outages | Slight delay, more parts |
| One big application | Simple to deploy | Harder to scale parts |
Every decision gains one quality and costs another.
01How it teaches
Built from how people learn
Short lessons you control
Each lesson is a few minutes of slides. You move at your own pace, go back, and stop when you like.
See it done, then do it
Every part starts from a finished example, then asks you to try. The support fades as you go, as in the live day.
Pause and recall
Each lesson ends by asking what you remember before it shows you. Reviews return at 1, 3, 7 and 21 days. Your progress is stored in this browser only.
Read, listen, or both
Every slide has a transcript. A read-aloud voice is built in, and lessons with recorded narration play it.
Retrieval practice and spacing are well studied, but the size of the effect varies. A 2024 study across nine STEM courses found a small average gain from spaced retrieval (about two percentage points) and not in every course (Bego and colleagues, International Journal of STEM Education). We use both because they cost you little, not because they guarantee a result.
02Syllabus
19 lessons in four modules
Study in order or jump to what you need. The first two lessons are free and need no code.
Start here
Why architecture goes undocumented, and what good documentation is.
- 1Opening9 slides, about 3 min Free preview
- 2Foundations15 slides, about 20 min Free preview
Morning: goals to strategy
Sections 1 to 4. Write goals with numbers, find constraints, draw the context, state the strategy.
Afternoon: structure, behaviour and decisions
Sections 5 to 12. Building blocks and contracts, runtime, deployment, decisions, quality, risks.
- 8§5 Building blocks27 slides, about 45 min Course
- 9§6 Runtime12 slides, about 20 min Course
- 10§7 Deployment6 slides, about 9 min Course
- 11§8 Crosscutting concepts8 slides, about 12 min Course
- 12See it run10 slides, about 8 min, optional Course
- 13§9 Decisions15 slides, about 27 min Course
- 14§10 Quality requirements7 slides, about 11 min Course
- 15§11 Risks and §12 Glossary6 slides, about 9 min Course
AI and agents
Red-team an AI draft, then write documentation that coding agents can use.
03Review
Ready to review today
04Access
Get the full course
What you get
- All 19 lessons, in the player, on any device
- A transcript and read-aloud for every slide
- Recall questions and spaced review
- The Doubles-to-Go arc42 and working app, with its tests
- Lifetime access to this edition
05Your instructor
Damian Ramsajan
Solution architect and workshop facilitator, founder of Intellica AI
Damian has spent three decades turning complicated software and process ideas into things teams can actually use. As a solution architect he has worked across Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, EMC, HP, Cisco and NetApp platforms on major system implementations throughout the Caribbean, and he has been explaining difficult concepts in workshops for decades, including three years lecturing computer science in the mid-2000s. Today he runs Intellica AI, designing and operating production AI systems documented with arc42, C4 and architecture decision records, so that any team can pick up the build on day one.
- 30+ years in ICT
- Workshop facilitator for decades
- Former computer science lecturer
- Caribbean-wide implementations
- MSc, Strategic Business IT (Portsmouth)
- PGDip, Software Engineering (Aston)
06Questions
Before you decide
Is this the same as the live workshop?
The material is the same. The live day adds feedback on your own system, work with other people, and a chance to ask questions as they come up.
How do I get access?
Ask by email or WhatsApp. We reply with the price and how to pay, and send an access code when payment is confirmed.
Can I share my code?
Please do not. The code is personal and your name appears on every lesson.
What if I lose my code or change device?
Ask again and we will send it again.
What about refunds?
Refund terms are confirmed in writing when you enquire, before you pay.