Strategic Monoliths and Microservices: Driving Innovation Using Purposeful Architecture (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Vernon))

This is a good place to introduce the idea of using an engineering model approach to software development as opposed to the contractor model. First consider the typical contractor model. Under this model, whether used by employees or actual contractors, developers must be given accurate tasks to work on, and they must not fail in even small ways. T

Early on, it is best to choose a deployment option that supports fast experimentation, implementation, and delivery. This specifically points to using a Monolithic architecture in the early stages, because trying to solve distributed computing problems before the business problems are understood is an act of futility.

Assertion: Those who want to build good software that innovates must get this communication–learning–innovation pathway right before trying anything else.

Spaghetti business always exists before software, and spaghetti code is the bane of a system’s existence. Ad hoc architecture, progressive distortion of the software model, wrongly chosen abstractions, seeking opportunities for code reuse before use is even achieved, and unskilled developers are some of the reasons that software complexity prevents

The quickest way to deliver the best outcomes for users is by driving in the straightest possible lines of incremental improvement. Select from the best service-level architecture and deployment options based on full knowledge of need and purpose.

Modularity is an indispensable foundation for Conway’s Law as well. That’s because modules are where we should capture critical communication and what is learned from it. At the same time, modules can save teams from smearing mud all over their solution space. Modules are used both as conceptual boundaries and as physical compartments.

When the team has decided on modules first, and when deployment options start out as simple as possible, that approach puts them on solid ground to make decisions based on empirical information at the most responsible time.

A business capability answers the “What?” question regarding the means by which the company will generate revenues. A substantive question with regard to a business capability is “How?” Impact Mapping, discussed in Chapter 2 in the section “Strategic Delivery on Purpose,” explains driving software deliverables starting with the question “Why?” By t

Conway’s Law doesn’t leave anyone guessing about how to make organizational communication structures work for the greater good. As the conclusion of Conway’s paper states: We have found a criterion for the structuring of design organizations: a design effort should be organized according to the need for communication.