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

Looking ahead of development

Developing solutions without a view of what is coming in the near- to mid-term causes several issues. Due to the urgency of now, a solution's architecture decays progressively, and a move toward accidental architecture results in higher operational costs and reduced agility. Just-in-time decisions and delayed decisions increase the adoption of tactical solutions. As a result, velocity goes up before deteriorating due to higher degrees of rework. Tactical solutions impact the technical quality and predictability of the release process. Solution qualities such as stability, reliability, performance, and so on also decreases as time progresses.

As discussed in the horse and buggy metaphor in Chapter 3, Agile Architects – The Linchpin to Success, architects often work on future iterations alongside the product owner to ensure backlog items have enough clarity at the time of the development sprint. Preparing the Definition of Ready (DOR) on time...