Your question is Capacity Planning for Distributed Systems. Take a moment with it on the right.
Talk me through your thinking if you like. When you're confident, submit your answer and I'll grade it like a real screen (7/10 or better passes).
You are leading an engineering team responsible for a distributed system that supports a high-volume payments platform. Traffic is growing, usage patterns are uneven across regions and time windows, and the business wants confidence that the platform can absorb peak demand without overbuilding expensive capacity.
What strategies do you use for capacity planning in a distributed system?