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Software Architecture, Processes, Organization—...

Software Architecture, Processes, Organization—and Humans

In this talk, we’ll look at software architecture, team organization and the interplay between technology and humans. We’ll address some of the patterns and anti-patterns that can be observed when organizations try to evolve towards more decentralization and autonomy, and take a look at some strategies to ensure technology supports and enables the desired outcome.

Stefan Tilkov

August 18, 2020
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  1. @stilkov Conway’s Law: Organization → Architecture “Organizations which design systems

    are constrained to produce systems which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.” – M.E. Conway
  2. @stilkov Conway Reversal 1: Organization ← Architecture Any particular architecture

    approach constraints organizational options – i.e. makes some organizational models simple and others hard to implement.
  3. @stilkov Choosing a particular architecture can be a means of

    optimizing for a desired organizational structure. Conway Reversal 2: Organization ← Architecture
  4. @stilkov The “Tilkov wants a law, too” slide The quality

    of a system’s architecture is inversely proportional to the number of bottlenecks limiting its evolution, development, and operations
  5. @stilkov The “Tilkov wants a law, too” slide* In a

    digital company, architecture, organization & processes can only evolve together *Attempt #2 in case the 1st one doesn’t catch on
  6. @stilkov Pattern: Microservices Description Approach Consequences Design modules as separate

    deployment and operation units, with large degrees of freedom for their implementation Former technical detail (deployment architecture) as first class architectural design principle Network communication as hard-to-cross boundary, enforcing encapsulation Isolation Autonomy Scalability Resilience Speed Experimentation Rapid Feedback Flexibility Replaceability
  7. @stilkov Antipattern: Microservices Description Reasons Consequences System made up of

    arbitrarily sized, tightly coupled modules communicating over network interfaces Hype-driven architecture Conference-driven development Missing focus on business domain Infrastructure over- engineering “Ripple” effect of changes Complex environment Massive network overhead Performance issues Wild mix of technologies, products & frameworks Hard to understand & maintain (a.k.a. “Distributed Monolith“)
  8. @stilkov Antipattern: Conference-driven Architecture Description Reasons Consequences Hypes are accepted

    as gospel, and applied to problems regardless of whether they match requirements or not • Hot and shiny toys! • Community respect • Search for guidance • Occasional successes • Motivated developers • Half-time of solutions matches conference cycle time • Acceptance of architecture directly related to # of conference visits
  9. @stilkov Antipattern: Decoupling Illusion Description Reasons Consequences Technical separation into

    subsystems/services does not match business domain separation • Technical drivers prioritized over business drivers • Lack of awareness for stakeholder needs • Reuse driver furthers single platform approach • Microservices hype • Technical complexity • Conflicting stakeholder needs require coordination • Organizational bottlenecks due to centralized components with highly concurrent requests
  10. @stilkov Antipattern: Half-hearted Modularization Description Reasons Consequences Modularization is performed

    in one aspect of the lifecycle only • Resistance of one group to participate • Lack of understanding of lifecycle aspects by initiators • Added complexity, limited value • Delivery inhibited by existing processes • New approach might be “burned” for future attempts
  11. @stilkov Antipattern: Solution Centrism Description Reasons Consequences Implementation solution as

    unifying factor • Vendor influence • Experience drives selection of technology • Sunk cost fallacy • Inefficiency due to hammer/nail problem • Bottleneck by definition • Technology, not domain as unifying factor • Developer frustration • Skills shortage in market • Hard to motivate people to train in proprietary tech
  12. @stilkov Antipattern: Domain-last Approach Biz Unit 1 Ops Stakeholder Stakeholder

    Stakeholder Biz Unit 2 Biz Unit 3 DB Tech 1 Tech 2 Dev
  13. @stilkov Antipattern: Domain-last Approach Description Reasons Consequences Major driver for

    organizational structure is roles and technical capabilities, not business domain • Matches classical company structure • Division of labor in divisions, department, teams • Projects as exceptions to change something that works • Inter-departmental politics over business needs • Conflicting project and disciplinary hierarchies and stakeholders • Blameshifting
  14. @stilkov Antipattern: Uncreative Chaos Description Reasons Consequences Lack of architectural

    structure & repeatable process for architectural decisions • No (effective) centralized governance • Non-technical senior management • Focus on unnecessary standardization • Strong business leaders, weak tech leaders • Redundancy in all aspects • Frequent technology discussions between teams • High integration costs and technical debt • Slow delivery capability due to complexity • Complex and expensive
  15. @stilkov Antipattern: Authoritarian Regime Description Reasons Consequences Centralized decision making,

    strong standardization, homogeneous environment • Unpopular decisions (cost savings, product standardization, …) • (Perceived or real) lack of skills in “lower levels” • Possibly due to company culture • Frustration and developer exodus • Lack of innovation & speed because of bottlenecks • Technology paralysis
  16. @stilkov Pattern: Developer Self-service Description Approach Consequences Project developers can

    access allocate resources without asking for permission • API-based access to resources (computation, storage, network, services) • Fine-grained security controls • Rate-limiting • Public, private or hybrid cloud-based • Shorter delivery/ deployment cycles • Support for experimentation • Easier test setup
  17. @stilkov Awesome Shop CMS Archive General Ledger Print Shop HR

    Invoicing Accounting Auth Catalog Checkout & Order Search
  18. @stilkov Awesome Shop CMS Archive General Ledger Print Shop HR

    Invoicing Accounting Auth Catalog Checkout & Order Search Domain Architecture
  19. @stilkov Ruby on Rails MySQL Java Spring Boot OSS Product

    COTS Java Spring Boot NodeJS ElasticSearch
  20. @stilkov Ruby on Rails MySQL Java Spring Boot OSS Product

    COTS Java Spring Boot NodeJS ElasticSearch Micro Architecture
  21. @stilkov Pattern: Regulated Market Description Approach Consequences Let “the free

    market of ideas” decide what works best, but provide a framework of rules for interoperability • Separate micro & macro architecture • Strictly enforced rules for macro architecture • Loose, minimal governance for micro architecture • Motivated developers • Experimentation with different micro architecture approaches possible • Best-of-breed approach • Local optima
  22. @stilkov Pattern: Autonomous Cells Description Approach Consequences Decentralized, domain- focused

    cells with maximum authority over all aspects of a set of capabilities • Decisions are made locally on all aspects of a solution • Success is measured via customer-oriented KPIs • Cross-functional team with biz, dev, ops skills • Customer/end user focus • Decentralized delivery capability • Speed as #1 priority • “Full-stack” requirement for developers and other roles • Redundancy instead of centralization
  23. @stilkov Pattern: Evolutionary Architecture Description Approach Consequences Architecture is constructed

    so it can evolve as much as possible over the course of (ideally indefinite) time • Separation of large domain into “islands of change” • Design for replacement, not for re-use • Minimization of shared dependencies • Cell metaphor: Renewal over time • Experimentation with different micro architecture approaches possible
  24. @stilkov Pattern: Marketing-based Governance Description Approach Consequences Architectural approaches are

    evangelized instead of mandated • Disseminate information via blogs, brown-bag sessions, public talks • Architects as communicators • Integration with public/community work • More heterogeneity • Similarity to industry • Decisions made based on a solution’s merit • Bottom-up modernization
  25. 5. Create value – or get out of the way

    of those who do as quickly as possible
  26. Krischerstr. 100 40789 Monheim am Rhein Germany +49 2173 3366-0

    Ohlauer Str. 43 10999 Berlin Germany +49 2173 3366-0 Ludwigstr. 180E 63067 Offenbach Germany +49 2173 3366-0 Kreuzstr. 16 80331 München Germany +49 2173 3366-0 Hermannstrasse 13 20095 Hamburg Germany +49 2173 3366-0 Gewerbestr. 11 CH-6330 Cham Switzerland +41 41 743 0116 innoQ Deutschland GmbH innoQ Schweiz GmbH www.innoq.com Thank you! Any questions? Stefan Tilkov @stilkov [email protected] +49 170 471 2625
  27. @stilkov www.innoq.com OFFICES Monheim Berlin Offenbach Munich Hamburg Zurich FACTS

    ~150 employees Privately owned Vendor-independent SERVICES Strategy & technology consulting Digital business models Software architecture & development Digital platforms & infrastructures Knowledge transfer, coaching & trainings CLIENTS Finance Telecommunications Logistics E-commerce Fortune 500 SMBs Startups