Mark Richards

Software Architecture Fundamentals

Monday, 9:00 AM EST

The job Software Architect places in the top ten of most annual surveys of best jobs, yet no clear path exists from Developer to Architect. Why aren’t there more books and training materials to fill this demand? First, software architecture is a massive multidisciplinary subject, covering many roles and responsibilities, making it difficult to teach because so much context is required for the interesting subjects. Second, it’s a fast moving discipline, where entire suites of best practices become obsolete overnight. This workshop provides the fundamentals to transition from developer to architect, or to help “accidental” architects.

Part 1 of this workshop focuses on the many elements required to make the journey from developer to architect, covering process topics like the impact of Continuous Delivery on architecture, technical subjects like application, integration, and enterprise architecture, and soft skills. While we can’t make you an architect overnight, we can start you on the journey with a map and a good compass.
Part 1, From Developer to Architect, covers:

• Soft skills
• Continuous Delivery
• Understanding large codebases
• Architecture patterns
• Architecture anti-patterns
• Integration architecture overview
• Introduction to enterprise architecture

Part two of this workshop takes a deeper dive in application, integration, and enterprise architecture topics, including evaluating architectures via Agile ATAM, the impacts of continuous delivery on architecture, comparing architectures, SOA, SOAP, and REST, integration hubs, and enterprise architecture approaches and strategies.

Part 2, Deeper Dive, covers:

• Continuous Delivery for architects
• Applying abstraction
• Comparing architectures
• SOAP vs REST/ WS vs Messaging
• Integration hubs
• Enterprise architecture approaches and strategies
• Comparing service-based architectures

To fully leverage knowledge, you need application. The last part of this workshop uses the public domain Architectural Katas exercise to apply learnings from the first two parts.

Architectural Modularity

Tuesday, 8:30 AM EST

It seems like all we talk about these days is making our architectures more modular. Buy why? In this session I will discuss the drivers and reasons why it is essential to move towards a level of modularity in our architectures. I will discuss and show real-world use cases of distributed modular architectures (specifically microservices and service-based architecture), and then discuss in detail the core differences between microservices and service-based architecture and when you should consider each. I'll end the talk by discussing the most effective way of migrating to modular distributed architectures.

Agenda:

• Drivers for modularity
• Modular distributed architectures
• Microservices vs. service-based architecture
• The move towards modularity

Architectural Thinking

Tuesday, 10:30 AM EST

Many of you may have an architect title, take on the role of an architect, or even aspire to be an architect, but are you thinking like an architect? Architectural thinking is learning to look at a problem or task from an architect's point of view. In this session we will look at many facets of architectural thinking, including how requirements shape the architecture, component-based thinking, how to make architecture decisions, and what feasibility and vitality means to an architect.

Agenda:

• expectations of an architect
• technical breadth vs. depth
• how requirements shape the architecture
• making architecture decisions
• component-based thinking

Architecture Patterns

Tuesday, 5:00 PM EST

Just as developers use design patterns in software development, architects use well-defined architecture patterns to get a head start on defining the characteristics and shape of the architecture for a system. In this session we will explore some of the more common architecture patterns and use concrete real-world examples to demonstrate how the patterns work. I will also go over the pros and cons of each pattern and discuss how requirements and operational aspects can drive which patterns to use. Using the right architecture pattern for your system is critical, because as we all know, once in place the architecture is very hard to change.

Agenda:

• Why use architecture patterns?
• Layered Architecture Patten
• Event Driven Architecture Pattern
• Microkernel Architecture Pattern
• Space-based Architecture Pattern

The Art of Problem Solving

Tuesday, 8:00 PM EST

As Tech Leaders, we are presented with problems and work to find a way to solve them, usually through technology. In my opinion this is what makes this industry so much fun. Let's face it - we all love challenges. Sometimes, however, the problems we have to solve are hard - really hard. So how do you go about solving really hard problems? That's what this session is about - Heuristics, the art of problem solving. In this session you will learn how to approach problems and also learn techniques for solving them effectively. So put on your thinking cap and get ready to solve some easy, fun, and hard problems.

Agenda:

• the checklist
• visual representations
• you know what happens when you assume…
• you gotta start somewhere
• the world is flat
• hey! keep it clean!
• perception can be reality

The Soft Skills of Architecture Part 1

Wednesday, 9:00 AM EST

Being a software architect is a tough job. Not only do you have to have significant technical depth and breadth, but you also need to understand the business domain you are working in. While these aspects are important, there is another perhaps more vital aspect of being an architect - the soft skills. Too many architects fail to realize the importance of soft skills, and as a result do not achieve success in their career as an architect. In this two-part session I will focus on the soft skills of architecture. In part one I will cover skills related to techniques such as architecture decisions, architecture refactoring, and communicating your software architecture through diagrams, documentation, and presentation.

Agenda:

• Architecture decisions
• Architecture refactoring techniques
• Communicating your architecture

The Soft Skills of Architecture Part 2

Wednesday, 11:00 AM EST

Being a software architect is a tough job. Not only do you have to have significant technical depth and breadth, but you also need to understand the business domain you are working in. While these aspects are important, there is another perhaps more vital aspect of being an architect - the soft skills. Too many architects fail to realize the importance of soft skills, and as a result do not achieve success in their career as an architect. In this two-part session I will focus on the soft skills of architecture. In part two I will cover the people skills side of architecture, including working in architecture teams, making implementation teams effective, negotiation techniques, and leadership skills.

Agenda:

• Working in architecture teams
• Making implementation teams effective
• Negotiation skills
• Leadership skills