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Tech Stack Jenga: How a classic board game gives insight into technical architecture

Do you remember playing Jenga as a kid? The thrill of taking a block and placing it triumphantly on top of the tower? It’s a game that anyone can learn to play but takes skill and patience to win. The first few turns are easy; the structure is solid and can handle losing a few supports. But the real challenge begins when players start messing with the foundation, which can destabilize the entire tower in a blink. One wrong move and it all comes tumbling down.

So what exactly does this have to do with technology? It’s simple: every tech stack is like a high-stakes Jenga tower. Every forward-thinking company wants to evolve and keep up with the latest tech advances, but doing so often means making significant changes to your tech stack. This can appear straightforward, but when you start to remove or rearrange foundational blocks like your banking core or LOS, things start to get shaky.

But what other choice do you have when you need to modernize and replace key systems? How do you ensure that your tech stack remains an indestructible tower with the flexibility to swap out beams, staircases, and load-bearing walls? The answer is deceptively simple: build a data pillar that supports and connects decentralized systems and apps. That structure ensures every piece of digital technology can change and evolve without disrupting the rest of the tech stack.

Your data is the most important part of your company (and not just because it can give you game-changing insights). A central data hub can maintain your employee and customer experience during major remodeling or construction such as swapping out your old banking core for a new one. Both will feed their data into the same hub where your applications can consume it without interruption.

By creating a system-agnostic data model, you can play Jenga with your tech stack without risking the stability and performance of your systems and applications.

If you want to learn how to create this model for your organization, get in touch with our team of experts.

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