Schedule: Theoretical sessions

Valentina Rodriquez shares a manifest describing a set of principles to design high-quality architectures. If you're planning to change your career or just want to improve your architect skills, join in. Read more.

Service mesh discussions are dominated by vendors trying to frame mesh as a new technology. However, just as microservices are a pattern, not a specific technology, service mesh is a new way to deploy features that API management once comprised. Marco Palladino explores the service mesh pattern, notes the reasons for its emergence, and outlines the technical requirements. Read more.

Software systems have a dynamic nature that requires a design approach different from the architecture of physical structures. Systems thinking examines the structure and behavior of complex systems. Matt McLarty provides an introduction to systems thinking and explores how it can be applied to software architecture, particularly in the context of distributed systems and microservices. Read more.

Often microservices and bounded contexts are considered to be the same thing. They are not. Vladik Khononov identifies the difference between microservices and bounded contexts, provides heuristics when each pattern should be used, and shares his experience optimizing microservices-quotebased architectures at Naxex. Read more.

A loosely coupled software architecture and an organizational structure to match is one of the biggest predictors of continuous delivery performance. Nick Tune explains why technical leaders must adopt a sociotechnical mindset to minimize dependencies and maximize team autonomy, optimizing end-to-end value creation and delivery speed. Read more.

How can architects collect and make sense of stories from the tactical frontlines to inform long-term technology strategy and vision? Cat Swetel reviews published time span research and works through what the shorter time spans of Agile and CI/CD may mean for software architecture and sociotechnical systems overall. Read more.

While most of us think our software designs are based in rational, logical thought, the truth is much scarier. Ian Varley covers the emerging field of cognitive biases—bugs in our mental operating system—and takes a cold, hard look at how these mental blind spots defeat our attempts to build systems that serve our users and stand the test of time. Read more.

After an expensive failed attempt at a complete rewrite, Ticketmaster is attempting to evolve the monolith that is its core ticketing platform. Cat Swetel isn't talking about best practices for DevOpsing your monolith; she tells the true story of one company’s journey toward a more flexible, adaptable, and easily maintainable architecture using tools like Wardley Maps and real options theory. Read more.

The resiliency of microservices-based applications heavily depends on how well they handle interservice communication over an unreliable network. Kasun Indrasiri provides an in-depth overview of common microservice resiliency patterns such as timeout, retry, circuit breaker, fail-fast, bulkhead, transactions, and failover/load balancing, and the role service meshes play in realizing them. Read more.