Architecture
July 5th, 2017
Writing unit tests for Azure Functions using C#
You can now write compiled Azure functions in C# with full unit test coverage, though there are a few obstacles along the way.
June 4th, 2017
Can consumer-driven contracts manage breaking change in microservice integrations?
One of the more enduring problems with service integration is managing change in service interfaces. Consumer-driven contracts can help to detect breaking changes, but this visibility comes at a price.
May 16th, 2017
API management and the return of the enterprise service bus
No self-respecting integration platform is complete without an API management story these days. Is this just a RESTful return of the enterprise service bus?
April 3rd, 2017
Architectural governance can be used to foster innovation. No, really.
Governance doesn’t have to be all about byzantine process and suffocating approval boards. It can be used to provide clear permission for teams to innovate.
January 28th, 2017
Why agile software architects should write code
No architect will ever admit to being out of touch with software development. However, unless you are writing code then it’s difficult to avoid becoming an “ivory tower” or “PowerPoint” architect that can only discuss systems in the abstract.
January 7th, 2017
Event stores and event sourcing: some practical disadvantages and problems
Event stores and event sourcing are a powerful idea, but they can be vulnerable to a number of technical and operational challenges when faced with real world complexity.
October 27th, 2016
The problem with using maturity models to describe technology solutions
Maturity models are a management tool. When applied to technology solutions they often provide a weak analysis that describes a false progression.
July 29th, 2016
Designing an event store for scalable event sourcing
Event sourcing can scale very nicely, though this does depend on a number of key design decisions for the underlying event store.
June 28th, 2016
Should microservices share technologies and platform capabilities?
Should agile teams be encouraged to share capabilities or be given total autonomy over their technology choices? For larger organisations this can become a trade-off between economies of scale and speed of delivery.
June 2nd, 2016
Is “Serverless” architecture just a finely-grained rebranding of PaaS?
Serverless computing makes bold promises of development without having to worry about environments, scaling or deployment. Haven’t we been here before?
April 14th, 2016
What do we actually mean when we say “business logic”?
In most cases “business logic” just refers to the poorly-defined “gloop” that sits between user interfaces and databases in layered architectures.
March 23rd, 2016
API gateways and the dangers of creeping middleware scope
An API gateway can solve many generic problems in an API infrastructure, but you do need to define a clear remit and protect against creeping scope.
February 1st, 2016
Data design for event-driven architecture: autonomy, encapsulation and ordering
When you’re implementing an event-driven architecture, the design of your events is absolutely critical to realize the benefits of loose coupling.
November 26th, 2015
Comparing nServiceBus and MassTransit: Do we still need .Net integration frameworks?
Both nServiceBus and Mass Transit plugged an important gap in Microsoft’s integration landscape, but do they have a role in a future that is likely to be dominated by diverse technologies and autonomous agile teams?
August 11th, 2015
Most software architecture diagrams are useless
The best architecture diagrams act as a map – if an architect can’t express a system clearly and concisely then they probably don’t understand it properly.