Agile Architecture is a system of principles, behaviors, and partnerships that encourage a system’s design and architecture to be proactive and evolving. This method embraces the DevOps attitude, allowing a system’s architecture to grow over time while still meeting the needs of present users. It avoids the costs and delays associated with a phase-gate process and Big Up Front Design’s start-stop-start nature and large-scale redesign. Collaboration, emergent design, deliberate architecture, and design simplicity are all ways that Agile architecture supports Agile development processes.
Agile architecture, like Agile development methods, enables the design of testable, deployable, and releasable features. Rapid prototyping, domain modeling, and decentralized innovation are also helpful. A logical data model describes the data in as much detail as possible, without regard to how they will be physically implemented in the database.
Features
The architecture of a system can either help or hinder a company’s capacity to deliver regular, independent updates to accomplish its goals. By optimizing the architecture to serve the end-to-end value stream, agile architects aid business alignment. This helps the company to meet its goal of delivering “value in the shortest sustainable lead time” consistently. This process is led by agile architects, who provide “just enough” architectural runway to meet changing business needs. They invest in legacy modernization activities regularly and know where to refactor to remove bottlenecks.
They express the importance of these ongoing technical goals in simple business terms. Agile architecture: To enable the Continual Delivery Pipeline’s continuous flow of value, Agile architecture: Over time, it evolves to meet the needs of contemporary consumers. Overhead and delays related to phase-gate and BUFD-methods are eliminated. Ensures that the ‘system is always on’. It strikes a balance between emergent design and intentionality. Takes a holistic approach to the entire value chain.
Collaborations and Roles
SAFe proposes three architect roles: enterprise, solution, and system architect, each of which addresses these issues at its level (Portfolio, Large Solution, and Essential). They meet regularly at all levels to establish alignment and to handle any issues or concerns that arise. As a result, the function may be held by more than one individual to provide sufficient knowledge and prevent bottlenecking teams from making architecture decisions.
Who is in control of architecture?
This is a tougher set of questions than you may imagine. The simple answer, which works well for small agile teams (which is the vast majority), is that architecture is the responsibility of everyone on the team. Model With Others implies that you don’t want to work alone, because architecture is far too essential to entrust to a single individual, no matter how brilliant they are; consequently, architecture should be a collaborative effort. I prefer to include all of the developers on a small project team, say fifteen people or less, because it allows everyone participating to have a vote in the architecture.
Because they worked on it as a team, everyone has a better knowledge and acceptance of the architecture. Because it is the group’s design and not just theirs, it enhances the likelihood that developers will be prepared to change components of the architecture if it proves insufficient, for example, if it doesn’t scale as well as you previously imagined.
