Good architecture shouldn't need a carrot or a stick

Architecture governance typically relies on either a 'stick' (approval boards requiring extensive documentation) or a 'carrot' (embedded architects guiding projects). Both create friction and overhead for internal teams. A better approach is 'paved road architecture' — pre-approved, ready-to-use architectural patterns that handle security, logging, and compliance automatically. Used by Netflix and Spotify, this model makes the compliant path the easiest path, so teams naturally adopt good architecture without coercion. An even more advanced variant is a modular, à la carte system where teams answer a few questions and receive a validated architecture blueprint, reducing governance to proactive oversight rather than reactive enforcement.