Start Here¶

Use this section to understand what the guide covers, how it is organized, and where to begin based on your role and current Azure experience.

[Documented] Microsoft positions the Azure Architecture Center as the entry point for architecture guidance and the Azure Well-Architected Framework as the lens for evaluating trade-offs.

This guide adds an opinionated operating layer on top of those sources:

[Inferred] start from platform boundaries before discussing workload patterns
[Inferred] make trade-offs explicit instead of listing services in isolation
[Inferred] keep each page scoped to decisions, failure modes, and ownership
[Assumed] route deep configuration steps to sibling service guides or Microsoft Learn

What you will find here¶

Page	Purpose	Best for
Overview	Explains the guide's scope, audience, and evidence model.	Everyone new to the repository
Learning Paths	Suggests study order for beginner, intermediate, and advanced readers.	Self-study and team onboarding
How to Use This Guide	Shows how the sections connect and how to pair this guide with Microsoft Learn.	Architects and tech leads
Architecture vs Service Guides	Defines what belongs here versus in a service-specific guide.	Contributors and reviewers
Repository Map	Visual map of the current documentation structure.	Maintainers and frequent readers
About	Project background, rationale, and related repositories.	Contributors and sponsors

Recommended entry points¶

Tip

If you are deciding platform shape, start with Platform immediately after this section.

Cloud architect: read Overview, Learning Paths, then Platform.
Platform engineer: read How to Use This Guide, then Platform and Operations.
Senior developer: read Overview, then Platform and one workload guide.
Reviewer: start with Overview, one relevant workload guide, and Design Labs; use Architecture Reviews when that section is published in Phase 2.

Orientation map¶

flowchart TD
    A[Start Here] --> B[Platform Fundamentals]
    A --> C[Well-Architected Lens]
    A --> D[Patterns and Workloads]
    B --> E[Architecture Reviews<br/>Phase 2 planned]
    C --> E
    D --> E
    D --> F[Operations and Design Labs]

Decision boundary for this section¶

[Documented] The guide should stay architecture-first and MSLearn-first.

This means Start Here should answer:

what problem each section solves
when a reader should move to another section
which evidence standard applies to claims
which source to consult first when ambiguity remains

This section should not spend most of its space on:

service enablement tutorials
SDK usage patterns
long Azure CLI walkthroughs
feature-by-feature product comparisons without decision context

References¶

Takeaway¶

[Inferred] Treat Start Here as the map, not the destination.

Read this section to establish scope and vocabulary, then move into Platform for foundational Azure architecture decisions.