Building Evolutionary Architectures book
Architecture as a continuously evolving thing protected by automated fitness functions, not a one-time design.
Architecture as a continuously evolving thing protected by automated fitness functions, not a one-time design.
why it matters
Counters the assumption that architecture is decided up front and frozen. Argues that the right unit of architectural decision is 'what fitness function protects this property?' — performance, security, modularity all become testable invariants you defend over time, not hopes that erode.
key ideas
- Fitness functions: automated tests that protect architectural characteristics (latency, modularity, scalability)
- Architectural characteristics aren't free; choosing some excludes others. Make the choice explicit.
- Incremental change is the default; the question is what stays stable while everything else moves
- Coupling is the enemy of evolvability — so is too much decoupling (premature)
who should read it
Architects and senior engineers thinking about long-lived systems. The 2nd edition is materially improved over the first.