Continuous Architecture in Practice
Software architecture in the age of Agility and DevOps
In the first part of this article, we outlined what technical debt is, how we can improve our understanding of it, its sources and how to catalogue it. Once we understand the nature of our debt and the forces that created it, we can then make conscious decisions about how it should be managed. This … Continue reading Dealing with Technical Debt
Preventing technical debt from overwhelming you Ward Cunningham’s 1992 debt metaphor helped explain that the issue with technical debt was never about its existence but the consequences of allowing it to accumulate unchecked. We know that ‘borrowing’ can accelerate progress and writing code quickly, even imperfectly, can enable learning and delivery. The danger lies in … Continue reading Continuous Management of Technical Debt
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” Max De Pree In Max De Pree’s best-known book ‘Leadership is an Art’ (published first in 1987) he argues that leadership is about creating the conditions in which people can do their best work, which one of the key goals of Continuous Architecture. As I’ve … Continue reading Defining Reality Through Leadership
Quality attributes such as performance, security, resilience, scalability and maintainability frequently determine whether a system remains viable over time, yet in many organisations they are consistently overshadowed by the drive to deliver new features. This tension has existed for decades, and while the industry continues to adopt new practices, methods and technologies at pace, the … Continue reading Why your quality attributes keep getting ignored (and what to do about it)
From grand design to guided decision-making Traditional approaches to software architecture don’t work very well with today’s pace of change. A traditional ‘up front’ approach, with an architect-led comprehensive software modelling exercise and lots of early decision-making, is out of step with how we work in modern software delivery. This aside, for many organisations, architecture … Continue reading Why Principles and Decisions Are the Core of Modern Software Architecture
Since Continuous Architecture was first introduced some ten years ago, it has been encouraging to see so many people starting to recognise that the point is the architecture work, not the architects. Many architects have also transitioned to be technical leaders and guides rather than trying to make and govern every technical decision themselves. And … Continue reading Continuous Architecture: A decade of designing for change
Continuous Architecture in Practice 