After spending time on the ground in the U.K. for vFunction’s recent application modernization workshops with AWS and Steamhaus, I was struck by how smoothly things run. The Tube was fast and reliable. The flat, walkable streets—and the refreshing mix of people—were a welcome break from San Francisco’s hills and familiar routines. And the Eurostar? A game-changer. International travel that felt as easy as a BART ride across the Bay.
In that spirit of cultural comparison and exploration, we wanted to take a closer look at how engineering teams in the U.K. are approaching software architecture, especially in contrast to their peers in the U.S. To explore that shift, we pulled U.K.-specific insights from our 2025 Architecture in Software Development Report, which surveyed 629 senior technology leaders and practitioners across the U.S. and U.K. The U.K. edition reflects 314 respondents across industries including software and hardware, financial services, manufacturing, and others, from CTOs and heads of engineering to architects and platform leads.
While both regions are navigating the same wave of AI acceleration, their strategies reveal meaningful differences. As AI reshapes how software is built, shipped, and scaled, well-managed architecture is more important than ever for application resilience and innovation. Without continuous oversight, architectural complexity can quietly erode stability, delay delivery, and heighten risk, a reality many U.K. teams are now confronting. It’s a critical time to focus not just on architectural outcomes, but on the processes and tools that uphold them through rapid change.
What stood out? Three differences between the UK and the US
A revealing picture emerged where U.K. organizations are advancing and where they’re struggling. Here are three key differences between the U.K. and the U.S.
1. Greater operational challenges in the U.K.
Despite the striking efficiency of systems in cities like London—from public transport to international rail—many U.K. organizations are hitting bumps in the road when it comes to their software. Managing software becomes especially difficult when the underlying architecture isn’t stable. Without a sound architectural backbone, teams struggle to deliver consistent value, meet customer expectations, and scale effectively.
Software stability remains elusive for many U.K. companies. A vast majority—95%—report some form of operational difficulty tied to architectural issues. Compared to their U.S. counterparts, U.K. organizations face significantly higher rates of service disruptions, project delays, rising operational costs, and application scalability challenges. They also report more security and compliance issues (54% vs. 46%), which may further compound instability and risk.
While no region is immune, the data suggests U.K. teams are grappling with more entrenched and complex software challenges, often the downstream effects of architectural drift.
2. Higher OpenTelemetry adoption
While U.K. organizations face steeper software challenges, the data also shows they’re taking steps to confront them head-on. One key example: higher adoption of OpenTelemetry, the open standard for collecting telemetry data across distributed systems. OTel has been implemented in full or in part by 64% of U.K. respondents, compared to 54% in the U.S.
That puts U.K. teams in a stronger position to move beyond basic performance monitoring and toward real-time architectural insight, especially when paired with a platform like vFunction. With the ability to visualize service flows, detect architectural drift, and understand how systems evolve over time, these teams are laying the groundwork for greater visibility and control. A growing focus on advanced observability is becoming a critical foundation for both operational recovery and long-term resilience.
3. Architecture integration in the SDLC improves with scale in the U.K.
Despite persistent challenges, larger U.K. organizations report greater architecture integration across the software development lifecycle than smaller firms, an encouraging contrast to the U.S., where smaller companies tend to show stronger alignment than their larger peers.
This suggests that while U.K. enterprises may be grappling with deeper architectural complexity, they’re also taking more deliberate steps to embed architecture throughout development as they scale. In many cases, integration isn’t just a function of growth—it’s a necessary response to it.
While U.K. teams may be experiencing the impact of architectural challenges more acutely, they’re also laying the groundwork for more sustainable, architecture-led software practices.
And there’s more. Get the full report.
Want to know which industries are leading—or where the biggest risks still lie?
The full U.K. report dives deeper into how documentation, SDLC integration, and observability intersect across software, financial services, and manufacturing. It also explores how leadership and practitioners perceive architecture differently, and how AI is reshaping complexity—along with what U.K. teams are doing to stay ahead.
📥 Download the U.K. edition of the 2025 Architecture in Software Development Report.
And see how your architecture strategy compares.
