Atomicity / Distributed Scalability
Kind: tension
Record: tension:atomicity-distributed-scalability
Canonical: Schema
"atomicity" (atomic-boundary layer) is traded against "Distributed Scalability" (atomic-boundary layer) — a principle cannot be scope-separated from a quality, metric, or cost it competes with; resolve by measuring "Distributed Scalability" and choosing an explicit operating point.
Listed in Tensions, after Idempotency / State Tracking and before ACID / Distributed Availability.