Challenges of decentralized systems and organizations

Cloud computing, container technologies and Microservices: New technoliges enable ever more dynamic software systems and shorter intervals for development and delivery of new features. Companies embrace agile and autonomous teams to react quickly to markets and customers. The challenge is to keep control over emerging, complex systems and actively steer architecture without thwarting agile teams.

Transcript

1. 2 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 C o l o g n e Organizational challenges of modern software development Photo by Drew Dau on Unsplash
2. Software trends of recent years 4 Agile Continuous delivery Microservices Cloud native
3. 5 So, why exactly do people think it’s a good idea to replace 1 JEE app with 100 Microservices?
4. Drivers for these trends? 6 New technical possibilities Problems of prior paradigms – like SOA or JEE Goals and requirements from business changed
5. Architecture derived from business 7 Business Goals IT Goals Architecture Goals Principles & Concepts
6. Classic goals 8 Business Goals IT Goals Architecture Goals Principles & Concepts Shareholder value Cost leadership Margin increase Cost reduction Efficiency Re-use Standardization Deduplication Component frameworks SOA Code generation Effects on Organization Centralization Specialization Division of Work
7. New goals 9 Business Goals IT Goals Architecture Goals Principles & Concepts Customer experience Innovation Experimental Agility Short time 2 market Decoupling Flexibility Changeability Continuous Delivery Microservices Cloud native Effects on Organization Decentralization Generalists Optimize for speed
8. 12 New Ideal
9. 14 <<problem space>> Business Domain Software Dev Ops UX/UI PO Team <<problem space>> Business Domain Software Dev Ops UX/UI PO Team <<problem space>> Business Domain Software Dev Ops UX/UI PO Team
10. 15 Challenges
11. 16 https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/leonardo-da-vinci-sheffield-talks-1.839504 „The first Full Stack Developer“ Robert Glaser @youngbrioche
12. Cross functional teams 17 (Too) many skills and experience needed Might result in poor speed or low quality How to educate, qualify, and enable teams? Challenge 1
13. Architecture 18 Each team solves only own problems (by design) Agile/autonomous teams will create complex systems How to maintain a sustainable architecture? How to align the overarching architecture to the company`s goals? Challenge 2
14. Feature planning and releasing 19 Features might involve several teams How to coordinate processes for planning and releasing? Who is responsible for the whole system? Super heroes might emerge – is this helpful? Challenge 3
15. 20 Solution approaches
16. 21 Decomposition along business responsibilities
17. Good modules 22 Information hiding High cohesion Low coupling David Parnas "On the Criteria To Be Used in Decomposing Systems into Modules“, 1972 Photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Parnas
18. Modularization criteria? 23 Many potential criteria: domain model, technical, security, ... Depends on architecture goals If autonomy is key, the primary question is: Can one team develop, test, release and maintain a feature end-2-end? Checkout Customer Payment Bank details ?
19. 24 API Gateway UI UI UI BE BE BE BE Framework Team Framework UI Toolkit Team UI Toolkit Gateway Team
20. 25 Product UI BE Order UI BE Fulfillment UI BE ... UI BE Customer UI BE
21. 26 Team-spanning structures
22. 27 https://www.scaledagileframework.com
23. 28 https://medium.com/@achardypm/agile-team-organisation-squads-chapters- tribes-and-guilds-80932ace0fdc
24. SAFe 29 Agile Team Agile Release Train (ART) Communities of Practice Squad Tribes Chapters & Guilds Spotify
25. CoP, Chapters, Guilds 30 Encourage know-how exchange over teams (beyond API discussions) Provide assistance: • Policies & information • Infrastructure • Facilitators
26. 31 Find (the right) balance
27. Find the right balance 32 Autonomy Centralism Photo by Marion Michele on Unsplash
28. Separate responsibilities 33 Macro Architecture: Global decisions Micro Architecture: Local decisions Plattform Service Service Service
29. 34 Micro Language/runtime Application architecture Frameworks Libraries Data storage ...
30. 35 Micro Micro Micro Micro Protocols, Integration, Communication Packaging, Deployment, Rollout Macro
31. 36 Micro Micro Micro Micro Protocols, Integration, Communication Packaging, Deployment, Rollout Macro Micro Micro Micro Micro Protocols, Integration, Communication Packaging, Deployment, Rollout Macro Micro Micro Micro Micro Protocols, Integration, Communication Packaging, Deployment, Rollout Macro Micro Micro Micro Micro Protocols, Integration, Communication Packaging, Deployment, Rollout Macro Enterprise Architecture Micro Micro Micro Micro Protocols, Integration, Communication Packaging, Deployment, Rollout Macro Micro Micro Micro Micro Protocols, Integration, Communication Packaging, Deployment, Rollout Macro
32. Who makes technical decisions? Team, Tribe or Enterprise? 37 Standards should focus on interfaces and protocols Avoid uncontrolled technology mixes Enable teams to make own decisions and assume responsibility Principle of subsidiarity: micro > macro > enterprise
33. 39 Conclusion
34. Culture over strategy 40 Decisions driven by data instead of management committees Give teams a goal But let them find their own way Trust and responsibility Let those decide who actually do the work
35. Thanks for listening! Questions? 42 Oliver Tigges oliver.tigges@innoq.com @otigges Krischerstr. 100 40789 Monheim am Rhein Germany +49 2173 3366-0 Ohlauer Str. 43 10999 Berlin Germany +49 2173 3366-0 Ludwigstr. 180E 63067 Offenbach Germany +49 2173 3366-0 Kreuzstr. 16 80331 München Germany +49 2173 3366-0 Hermannstrasse 13 20095 Hamburg Germany +49 2173 3366-0 Gewerbestr. 11 CH-6330 Cham Switzerland +41 41 743 0116 innoQ Deutschland GmbH innoQ Schweiz GmbH www.innoq.com