front matter
Architecture serves a purpose. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the architecture of business and IT systems typically helped to automate previously paper-based processes. However, with the coming of automation and cloud technologies in 2008 and beyond, the architecture of organizations and software systems is now free to serve the needs of the user or customer through value streams. To achieve this, we need architecture modernization for fast flow.
In this book, Nick Tune brings together a vital collection of techniques and approaches that help to shape software and organizational architecture for fast flow. Informed by approaches including Team Topologies, domain-driven design (DDD), data mesh, and Wardley Mapping, Nick shows how to plan, start, and evolve a journey of architecture modernization using a good mix of concepts and practical techniques.
I particularly like the emphasis on the need to build capabilities to change architecture continuously: “Everything evolves,” says Nick in chapter 5, and “Prepare for constant evolution” in chapter 9. This perspective is crucial for any organization working with any kind of software-enriched services today. Core Domain Charts (see chapter 10) are essential to designing for constant evolution, so it’s good to see a comprehensive treatment of this topic in the book. (Nick was instrumental in devising and shaping the techniques around Core Domain Charts.)