> if its something remotely novel you just can't understand the landscape without walking through it at least once
Sure you can. Mapping out the unknowns (and then having a plan to make each one knowable) is the single most important function of whoever you have designing your architecture.
Up-front architecture isn't about some all-knowing deity proclaiming the perfect architecture from on high. It's an exercise in risk management, just like any other engineering task.
> there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know.
Sure you can. Mapping out the unknowns (and then having a plan to make each one knowable) is the single most important function of whoever you have designing your architecture.
Up-front architecture isn't about some all-knowing deity proclaiming the perfect architecture from on high. It's an exercise in risk management, just like any other engineering task.