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

Balancing autonomy with agility

Lean-Agile governance uses collaborative and decentralized decision making by enabling autonomy and empowerment without losing alignment. However, the question remains as to the limit of autonomy and decentralization to strike the right balance between protecting investments and continuous flow.

Luna, Kruchten, and Moura, in their paper, State of the Art of Agile Governance: A Systematic Review, observed that the level of governance must always be adapted according to the organizational context. The level of governance required to achieve business agility must be balanced and adjusted when needed, considering each organization's particular conditions and timing. Just enough for one organization may be too much for another one. As the authors observed, there is no one-size-fits-all governance.

As demonstrated in the following diagram, governance can be at both extremes:

Figure 11.6 – Different levels of...