---
title: "From Lizard to Wizard: Engineering Excellence Workshop"
url: https://stacklist.com/card/e275a419-e355-4df1-a199-ff38b1c02628
source_url: "https://websummercamp.com/2026/session/from-lizard-to-wizard-engineering-excellence-workshop"
stack: https://stacklist.com/stack/46432398-67c7-4536-9f20-fb45d29f325d
summary: "From Lizard to Wizard is an engineering excellence workshop covering frontend system design, microfrontends, BFF, server-driven UI, and event-driven architecture using the RADIO framework. Participants learn to architect React systems for 100k+ users and make informed architectural decisions based on team structure."
tags: "system-design, frontend-architecture, react, microfrontends, event-driven, workshop, scalability"
key_entities: "From Lizard to Wizard: Engineering Excellence Workshop (event), RADIO framework (technology), React (technology), Module Federation (technology), WebSocket (technology), microfrontends (concept), server-driven UI (concept), event-driven architecture (concept), BFF (Backend for Frontend) (concept), Dan (person), Rover.com (organization), WhatsApp-scale chat app (technology)"
classification: "tutorial"
content_hash: "sha256:c47de84f294bec77abc14eeaa181004b100f305927c695c4a5b52d49c0136e73"
acp_version: "0.2"
token_counts_approximate: 389
visibility: public
agent_accessible: true
status: "final"
---

# From Lizard to Wizard: Engineering Excellence Workshop

Description We start with frontend system design, building a WhatsApp-scale chat app using the RADIO framework, covering virtualization, optimistic updates, WebSocket reconnection, cursor-based pagination, and a clear state-management decision tree.  Then microfrontends and Module Federation, the four real reasons orgs adopt them, vertical vs horizontal architecture, dependency sharing, inter-microfrontend communication, and the smell that means they're the wrong call.  Part three is BFF and server-driven UI, moving render decisions to the backend so iOS, Android, and web stay in sync without three deploy cycles.  Part four covers event-driven architecture, decoupling cross-cutting concerns through a replayable, auditable event bus without a global store.  We close with some React Best Practices for System Architectures and reliability.  You leave able to pass system design interviews with structured, defensible answers, architect React systems that scale past 100k users, and choose between microfrontends, BFF, and SDUI based on your team's actual shape. Prerequisites Laptop Speaker Lead Engineer @ Rover.com Dan is a software engineer, focusing mostly on the Frontend and in a love-love relationship with Javascript. Dan has worked professionally on all Big Three Frameworks. He says he is forever trying to strike a balance between his desire to ship stunning UI and deliver fast and great value from a product perspective, while also trying to merge the cleanest, easiest-to-maintain code he can possibly write.