Book Image

Becoming an Agile Software Architect

By : Rajesh R V
Book Image

Becoming an Agile Software Architect

By: Rajesh R V

Overview of this book

Many organizations have embraced Agile methodologies to transform their ability to rapidly respond to constantly changing customer demands. However, in this melee, many enterprises often neglect to invest in architects by presuming architecture is not an intrinsic element of Agile software development. Since the role of an architect is not pre-defined in Agile, many organizations struggle to position architects, often resulting in friction with other roles or a failure to provide a clear learning path for architects to be productive. This book guides architects and organizations through new Agile ways of incrementally developing the architecture for delivering an uninterrupted, continuous flow of values that meets customer needs. You'll explore various aspects of Agile architecture and how it differs from traditional architecture. The book later covers Agile architects' responsibilities and how architects can add significant value by positioning themselves appropriately in the Agile flow of work. Through examples, you'll also learn concepts such as architectural decision backlog,the last responsible moment, value delivery, architecting for change, DevOps, and evolutionary collaboration. By the end of this Agile book, you'll be able to operate as an architect in Agile development initiatives and successfully architect reliable software systems.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
1
Section 1: Understanding Architecture in the Agile World
Free Chapter
2
Chapter 1: Looking through the Agile Architect's Lens
4
Section 2: Transformation of Architect Roles in Agile
8
Section 3: Essential Knowledge to Become a Successful Agile Architect
15
Section 4: Personality Traits and Organizational Influence

Agile architecture principles

Agile architecture revolves around five core principles. Culture is one of the most important factors in Agile architecture and is considered as embedded in every principle.

The following diagram captures the five key Agile architecture principles:

Figure 2.13 – Agile architecture principles

These five principles act as guiding forces for any successful transformation to Agile architecture. As we know, Agile software development practice does not prescribe anything, so the implementations can take different shapes.

Architecture needs a collective effort

Architecture development needs collective effort from all team members. One of the principles from the manifesto for Agile software development is "the best architectures, requirements, and design emerge from self-organizing teams." This also resonates with the Heart of Agile, where Collaborate is one of the keywords. Agile architecture moves away from...