System design · AI, data, distributed systems

Software is not the system.

You can have working code and still not have a system.

A system has boundaries, contracts, and data flow.

That is what makes it hold in production.

I help teams design systems that actually hold.

AI, data, distributed systems.

Treated as systems — not features.

  • Make distributed behavior predictable — ownership, failure modes, and back-pressure you can operate.
  • Turn vague AI into working systems — retrieval, evaluation, and guardrails that match production reality.
  • Untangle legacy into deployable components — interfaces and seams teams can ship without rewrites each quarter.

Work

How we build systems.

Three ways to engage. Each is scoped for clarity and a concrete outcome.

01

Engagement

Define intent before priorities drift

System Design Advisory

When options conflict or the next step is unclear.

Focused sessions on goals, constraints, and trade-offs — written recommendations you can act on.

Outcome: a decision-ready view of the system you need.

02

Engagement

Understand the system before you build it

Architecture Deep Dive

When the design needs stress-testing before more build cost.

Review of flows, boundaries, failure modes, and data/AI touchpoints — no slide-only theater.

Outcome: risks and fixes ranked by impact.

03

Engagement

Design decisions—not just code.

Custom System Design

When you need a blueprint from intent to operation.

Structured design pass — components, interfaces, and evolution path aligned to your constraints.

Outcome: an implementable system picture, not a wishlist.

Method

Intent → Structure → System

Plain language. No mystery.

01

Intent

What must be true for this system to succeed?

Before tools or vendors enter the room.

02

Structure

Boundaries and contracts that enforce it.

What still holds when teams, traffic, and regulation scale.

03

System

What runs, scales, and fails in production.

How you observe, contain, and correct it when reality disagrees with the plan.

Intent → Structure → System

Proof of work

Budo Arena.

Coming soon

Where systems meet real constraints. Where the system meets reality — a domain product, not a slide exercise.

A system designed under real constraints.

Not a concept — something that had to work.

Martial arts competition and event software — the domain product this architecture serves.

  • —Event-driven architecture across multiple domains.
  • —Narrative engine running in real time.
  • —Clear boundaries between components and flows.
  • —Designed to evolve without breaking behavior.
  • —Built for production conditions — live behavior and real-time pressure, not offline logic.

From vague intent → working system.

Full case study when we publish it.

budo-arena · preview
> domain · martial arts events & competition · case study prep…
[INFO] No public metrics claimed on this preview panel.
[INFO] Telemetry-style layout only — not live data.
[STATUS] Coming soon — narrative + links TBD
SCOPE
Domain product
POSTURE
Ship-ready

If this maps to something you’re thinking through — we can always talk. What comes next depends on context.

Discuss your system

Writing

System thinking, in writing.

Field Notes are written in English.

System thinking applied to real problems.

Not a blog. Models and patterns used in practice.

Field Notes: body copy is English-only.

Notes from real systems work — what breaks, what scales, what holds in production. Start with the RAG pattern catalog, then the Field Notes hub.

Explore Field Notes View patterns

Shape systems before they exist in code — intent and structure visible before the first merge.

GeneStudio.

Coming soon

A tool for turning system design into working code.

A workspace for shaping intent into structure before code — contracts, seams, and operational shape on the table before tribal knowledge hardens. No waitlist or data capture on the homepage; the product story comes first.

How GeneStudio works

Coming soon

About

Built by a practicing engineer.

Production over presentation.

Paweł Procaj (Dan Katana) — system designer behind ProLogic Labs

I design and build real systems.

Not diagrams. Not slide decks.

Experience across banking, enterprise, and product systems.

Clear intent.

Explicit structure.

Systems that behave in production.

Technology depth and implementation detail live in Writing (Field Notes in English).

ProLogic — logic on real products and platforms. Labs — experiments shipped with rigor, without needless buzz.

Contact

This is how I work with teams — in the open.

If this matches how you think, let's talk.

When you email: rough problem, timeline, constraints — enough to start.

[email protected]