Architectural Tradeoff Analysis Minified

Posted by Tracy Bannon on Monday, April 10, 2023

#๐—”๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ง๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—”๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜†๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€ is a crucial step in designing robust systems. Itโ€™s all about balancing conflicting requirements & goals. Below is a minified approach.

1๏ธโƒฃ Identify key qualities: Performance, scalability, security, maintainability, usability, etc. 2๏ธโƒฃ Prioritize: Rank these qualities based on project & business needs. Remember, thereโ€™s no one-size-fits-all solution! 3๏ธโƒฃ Evaluate design options: Explore architectural patterns & styles that address your priorities. 4๏ธโƒฃ Analyze tradeoffs: Understand the pros & cons of each option, and how it impacts other aspects of your system.

5๏ธโƒฃ Iterate & refine: As you progress, continuously reassess & adjust your architectural decisions. Stay flexible & adaptable! 6๏ธโƒฃ Capture the Decision: Make sure to capture the decisions. having the context makes decisions defensible.

There are more rigorous and in depth approaches; the most important aspect is that you do the work and capture the oucomes. Architectural decision records (ADRs) are my personal go-to. Remember ๐Ÿ…ฒ๐Ÿ…พ๐Ÿ…ฝ๐Ÿ†ƒ๐Ÿ…ด๐Ÿ†‡๐Ÿ†ƒ ๐Ÿ…ธ๐Ÿ†‚ ๐Ÿ…ด๐Ÿ†…๐Ÿ…ด๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ†ˆ๐Ÿ†ƒ๐Ÿ…ท๐Ÿ…ธ๐Ÿ…ฝ๐Ÿ…ถ .

There is no single approach.

Photo by Jens Lelie on Unsplash