Rants
28 January 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.
19 December 2016
Forget code coverage – test design should be driven by behaviours
Test coverage statistics are much loved by management teams and code quality tools. They tend to associate a high level of coverage with robust, well-managed code bases. Wrongly, as it turns out.
20 September 2016
What’s in a name? Three-lettered acronyms and their impact on development culture
Three-lettered acronyms can be a useful tool for providing brevity, but they can also give rise to a coded language that contributes to a cold and impersonal development culture.
14 April 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.
27 September 2015
REST APIs don’t need a versioning strategy - they need a change strategy
Change in an API is inevitable. Attempting to manage this change through version numbering usually creates more problems than it solves.
11 August 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.
25 July 2015
Can cross-cutting concerns really exist between services?
You might be able to identify cross-cutting concerns in a monolith, but in a service-orientated world they should melt away into specific implementations.
22 November 2014
The RESTafarian flame wars – common disagreements over REST API design
Debates on the finer points of REST can bring out the worst in people as they seek to define what is and is not “RESTful”. In most cases the debate is unlikely to make the difference between success and failure for an API.
3 October 2014
The problem with GUIDs…
GUIDs do solve an important problem. It’s just rarely the problem that developers are trying to address…
9 July 2014
The problem with tiered or layered architecture
An architecture based on tiers or layers is too inflexible to deal with the more flexible demands of modern systems, particularly when you working with high-volume systems that require distributed processing.
21 April 2014
Hackable URIs may look nice, but they don’t have much to do with REST and HATEOAS
Structured and Hackable URIs are a staple part of SEO-friendly websites. Although developers generically expect to see them in HTTP-based APIs, they should be irrelevant to consumers of a fully RESTful API that leverages HATEOAS.
27 March 2014
Here's the truth about CMS selection: It doesn't really matter...
A lot of hot air is wasted on CMS selection. Having lived through many implementations, it’s not the platform decision that determines whether or not you will be successful.
21 February 2014
Lean development’s “last responsible moment” should address uncertainty, not justify procrastination
Deferring decisions to the “last responsible moment” can help you to adapt to the inevitable uncertainty that comes with agile development. The risk is that it can become an excuse for uncertainty that undermines development velocity.
12 August 2013
Agile velocity is not a measure of productivity
Agile does not necessarily lend itself to management reporting. The few metrics it exposes are designed to support internal planning rather than external measurement. It can be tempting to re-purpose velocity as a measure of productivity, though this will only distort team planning without saying anything meaningful.
22 February 2013
A shared database is still an anti-pattern, no matter what the justification
Shared databases risk turning into performance bottlenecks that encourage close-coupling and create a single point of failure. There’s no justification for using them to integrate processes and applications.