๐ฆ๐ผ๐ณ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐ฆ! Those who know me, know that this is squarely where my heart rests. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ and we need organizations to understand the importance of architecture!
IBM Fellow Grady Booch said โAll architecture is design, but not all design is architecture. Architecture represents the set of significant design decisions that shape the form and the function of a system, where significant is measured by cost of change.โ
The question I get is โHow do you make architectural decisions?โ I rely on my experience, my SEI training, and materials shared by my colleagues like Humberto Cervantes and Rick Kazman. In their book, โDesigning Software Architectures: A Practical Approachโ, they spell out fundamental principles, guidelines, and design concepts .
Where to start?? ๐จ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐ฑ๐ผ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐.
๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ, ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ, ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ. Work with stakeholders and make sure their priorities are your priorities. Align mission, business, and tech agility.
Evaluate potential ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐๐๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐โฆ the reusable solutions to common design problems. To be a pattern, the solution must have been implemented multiple times and proven out. This is not fluffy-stuff; styles and patterns are well-structured and experience-based.
Lay out the ๐ค๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐๐๐ฒ๐ (aka characteristics) that are important to stakeholders such as performance, security, reliability, and maintainability.
Select & experiment with ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐โฆ these are proven approaches to address individual quality attributes. There are MANY like caching, load balancing, and fault tolerance. Rick & Humberto include indexes of tactics in their book. (Seriously, read this book, Peeps!)
This is one of many times ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ is needed. Architectural reviews, scenario-based analysis, prototyping and experimentation are all core.
Make sure to communicate the different perspectives of a software ecosystem using ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐๐. Examples include the logical view, the process view, and the deployment view.
Oh, and make sure you annotate the decisionsโฆ yupโฆ architectural decision records (ARDs).
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