Quick takeaways

Event-driven architecture (EDA) is powerful but tricky – it’s great for scaling and decoupling, but has many hidden traps.
Observability is essential – debugging async systems without tracing, logs, and correlation IDs is almost impossible.
Use the outbox pattern – it’s the safest way to publish events without losing data.
Design events carefully – large, generic events can lead to tight coupling and painful refactors.
Avoid over-engineering – sometimes synchronous systems or simple monoliths are just better.
Start with sync if unsure – it’s easier to migrate from a well-structured synchronous system to async later than the other way around.

BONUS: Three Americans Mixtape