Workflow saga orchestrator
Design a workflow/saga orchestrator that executes multi-step business transactions (e.g. travel booking: reserve flight, hotel, car) where some steps run concurrently and any failure must trigger compensating actions to undo completed steps. Constraints: ~5k workflows/sec, steps call external services with their own timeouts, the orchestrator may crash mid-workflow, and the same workflow must not double-execute a step. Describe state tracking, how concurrent branches are coordinated and joined, and the failure/compensation model.
What a strong answer looks like
Clarify scale and constraints first. Propose a clean component breakdown, then go deep on the hard parts (data model, bottlenecks, consistency, failure modes) and name the trade-offs you are making.
Clarify5:30 left
Estimate5:30 planned
Design16:30 planned
Deep dive13:30 planned
Failure9:00 planned
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Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.