AI and cloud consultant, architect, and developer sharing practical notes on systems, platforms, and delivery.https://mvanleest.com/https://mvanleest.com/blog/im-available-for-consultancy-project-work-and-the-right-role/https://mvanleest.com/blog/im-available-for-consultancy-project-work-and-the-right-role/I'm currently open to consultancy, project-based work, and selective permanent or interim roles across AI, automation, cloud and platform architecture, engineering strategy, technical due diligence, and hands-on delivery.Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:34:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/when-a-modular-monolith-is-the-right-long-term-choice/https://mvanleest.com/blog/when-a-modular-monolith-is-the-right-long-term-choice/A practical guide to when a modular monolith is the right long-term architecture, and why it is often better than premature microservices for small teams.Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:04:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/why-eventbridge-pipes-is-such-a-useful-release-for-lean-teams/https://mvanleest.com/blog/why-eventbridge-pipes-is-such-a-useful-release-for-lean-teams/A practical guide to why EventBridge Pipes is so useful for lean teams, especially for reducing glue code in event-driven and serverless systems on AWS.Fri, 20 Mar 2026 18:04:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/the-manual-steps-small-teams-should-kill-before-they-become-normal/https://mvanleest.com/blog/the-manual-steps-small-teams-should-kill-before-they-become-normal/A practical guide to the manual operational steps small teams should eliminate early, before they become part of the delivery and operations culture.Fri, 13 Feb 2026 18:04:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/how-i-improve-a-monolith-incrementally-without-pretending-it-needs-a-rewrite/https://mvanleest.com/blog/how-i-improve-a-monolith-incrementally-without-pretending-it-needs-a-rewrite/A practical guide to improving a monolith incrementally, including boundary cleanup, ownership, deployment friction, and how to make real progress without forcing a rewrite.Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:04:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/how-i-think-about-idempotency-in-event-driven-systems/https://mvanleest.com/blog/how-i-think-about-idempotency-in-event-driven-systems/A practical guide to idempotency in event-driven systems, including retries, duplicate delivery, state changes, and why small teams should design for it early.Fri, 28 Nov 2025 20:06:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/using-hono-for-apis-instead-of-api-gateway/https://mvanleest.com/blog/using-hono-for-apis-instead-of-api-gateway/A practical guide to using Hono for APIs on AWS, why it can be a better fit than API Gateway-heavy designs, and where the tradeoffs actually are for small teams.Fri, 07 Nov 2025 19:09:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/how-to-design-sqs-based-systems-that-stay-understandable/https://mvanleest.com/blog/how-to-design-sqs-based-systems-that-stay-understandable/A practical guide to SQS design for small teams on AWS, including retries, idempotency, DLQs, observability, and how to keep queue-based systems understandable.Fri, 24 Oct 2025 18:09:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/when-dynamodb-is-the-right-choice-and-when-it-is-not/https://mvanleest.com/blog/when-dynamodb-is-the-right-choice-and-when-it-is-not/A practical guide to when DynamoDB is the right choice for small teams, when it is not, and how to think about access patterns, cost shape, team familiarity, and serverless architecture tradeoffs.Fri, 03 Oct 2025 16:33:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/what-cloudfront-saas-manager-means-for-multi-tenant-serverless-platforms/https://mvanleest.com/blog/what-cloudfront-saas-manager-means-for-multi-tenant-serverless-platforms/A practical guide to what CloudFront SaaS Manager changes for multi-tenant SaaS platforms, especially around custom domains, tenant onboarding, edge routing, and operating serverless delivery at scale.Fri, 08 Aug 2025 20:47:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/what-cloudfront-functions-keyvaluestore-changes-at-the-edge/https://mvanleest.com/blog/what-cloudfront-functions-keyvaluestore-changes-at-the-edge/A practical guide to what CloudFront Functions KeyValueStore changes for serverless apps, including where it helps with edge routing, redirects, domain lookups, and lightweight request-time logic.Fri, 18 Jul 2025 19:42:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/what-small-teams-should-automate-first/https://mvanleest.com/blog/what-small-teams-should-automate-first/A practical guide to the first automations small teams should invest in on AWS, including deployments, infrastructure as code, secrets, checks, observability, and why SST is often a strong fit.Fri, 27 Jun 2025 16:49:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/the-cloud-decisions-i-try-to-make-before-delivery-pressure-gets-high/https://mvanleest.com/blog/the-cloud-decisions-i-try-to-make-before-delivery-pressure-gets-high/A practical guide to the cloud decisions worth making early, so teams do not end up choosing infrastructure, environments, runtime models, and operational patterns under delivery pressure.Fri, 06 Jun 2025 20:06:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/how-i-decide-what-deserves-a-service-boundary-and-what-does-not/https://mvanleest.com/blog/how-i-decide-what-deserves-a-service-boundary-and-what-does-not/A practical guide to deciding when a service boundary helps, when it adds operational drag, and how small teams can avoid splitting systems too early.Fri, 30 May 2025 19:24:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/what-good-technical-leadership-looks-like-when-a-system-is-still-messy/https://mvanleest.com/blog/what-good-technical-leadership-looks-like-when-a-system-is-still-messy/A practical guide to technical leadership in messy systems, including how to lead architecture, delivery, and risk reduction without waiting for the system to become clean first.Fri, 16 May 2025 18:39:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/the-aws-mistakes-small-teams-make-in-their-first-year/https://mvanleest.com/blog/the-aws-mistakes-small-teams-make-in-their-first-year/A practical guide to the most common AWS mistakes small teams make in their first year, including IAM, environments, observability, cost visibility, networking, and choosing too much infrastructure too soon.Fri, 25 Apr 2025 18:11:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/where-ai-belongs-in-product-workflows-and-where-it-does-not/https://mvanleest.com/blog/where-ai-belongs-in-product-workflows-and-where-it-does-not/A practical guide to where AI belongs in product workflows, where deterministic logic should stay in control, and how small teams can use AI without making the whole product probabilistic.Fri, 04 Apr 2025 20:10:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/when-aws-lambda-should-be-the-default-for-small-teams/https://mvanleest.com/blog/when-aws-lambda-should-be-the-default-for-small-teams/A practical guide to why AWS Lambda should be the default for small teams on AWS, where serverless fits best, how SST helps, and when to move to a more conventional service model.Fri, 14 Mar 2025 19:19:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/what-small-teams-actually-need-from-platform-engineering/https://mvanleest.com/blog/what-small-teams-actually-need-from-platform-engineering/A practical guide to platform engineering for small teams on AWS, including what to build, what to avoid building too early, and why SST is a flexible and manageable infrastructure-as-code choice.Fri, 28 Feb 2025 20:03:00 GMThttps://mvanleest.com/blog/how-small-teams-should-choose-between-lambda-ecs-eks-and-ec2-on-aws/https://mvanleest.com/blog/how-small-teams-should-choose-between-lambda-ecs-eks-and-ec2-on-aws/A practical guide for startups and small engineering teams choosing between AWS Lambda, ECS/Fargate, EKS, and EC2 based on operational overhead, runtime needs, scaling patterns, and delivery speed.Sun, 16 Feb 2025 18:21:00 GMT