Todd Hoff at High Scalability - How can I learn to scale my project?:

"The center of your design should be the data store, not a process. You transition the data store from state to state, securely and reliably, in small increments.

[...] Viewing an application as a series of state transitions instead of a blizzard of actions and events is a way under appreciated design perspective. This is one of they key design approaches for making robust embedded systems."