Mark Richards

Software Architecture Fundamentals

9:00 AM MDT

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

8:30 AM MDT

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

Microservices AntiPatterns

10:30 AM MDT

Even though teams are gaining more experience in designing and developing microservices, nevertheless there is still a lot to learn about this highly distributed and somewhat complicated architecture style. Unfortunately, lots of microservices anti-patterns and pitfalls emerge during this learning curve. Learning about these anti-patterns and pitfalls early on can help you avoid costly mistakes during your development process. While anti-patterns are things that seem like a good idea at the time and turn out bad (see martinfowler.com/bliki/AntiPattern.html), pitfalls are those practices that are never a good idea at the time - ever. In this session I will cover some of the more common anti-patterns you will likely encounter while creating microservices, and most importantly describe some of the techniques for avoiding these anti-patterns.

Agenda

• Function-Driven Identification AntiPattern
• I Was Taught to Share AntiPattern
• The Timeout AntiPattern
• Hop on the Bus AntiPattern
• Data-Driven Migration AntiPattern

Microservices Pitfalls

1:00 PM MDT

Even though teams are gaining more experience in designing and developing microservices, nevertheless there is still a lot to learn about this highly distributed and somewhat complicated architecture style. Unfortunately, lots of microservices anti-patterns and pitfalls emerge during this learning curve. Learning about these anti-patterns and pitfalls early on can help you avoid costly mistakes during your development process. While anti-patterns are things that seem like a good idea at the time and turn out bad (see martinfowler.com/bliki/AntiPattern.html), pitfalls are those practices that are never a good idea at the time - ever. In this session I will cover some of the more common pitfalls you will likely encounter while creating microservices, and most importantly describe some of the techniques for avoiding these pitfalls.

Agenda

• Grains of Sand Pitfall
• Where's the Acid Pitfall
• Logging Can Wait Pitfall
• Jump on the Bandwagon Pitfall
• Give it a Rest Pitfall

Reactive Architecture Patterns 1

2:45 PM MDT

Reactive architecture patterns allow you to build self-monitoring and self-healing systems that can react to both internal and external conditions without human intervention. How would you like to design systems that can automatically grow as the business grows, automatically handle varying load (cyber Monday?), and automatically handle (and repair) internal and external errors, all without human interaction? I'll show you how to do this with your current technology stack (no special languages, tools, frameworks, or products). In this two-part session I will leverage both slides and live coding using Java and RabbitMQ to describe and demonstrate how to build reactive systems. Get ready for the future of software architecture - that you can start implementing on Monday.

Part 1 Agenda:

• Reactive systems introduction
• Channel Monitor Pattern (self-awareness)
• Consumer Supervisor Pattern (scalability and elasticity)
• Workflow Event Pattern (error handling)

Reactive Architecture Patterns 2

4:30 PM MDT

Reactive architecture patterns allow you to build self-monitoring and self-healing systems that can react to both internal and external conditions without human intervention. How would you like to design systems that can automatically grow as the business grows, automatically handle varying load (cyber Monday?), and automatically handle (and repair) internal and external errors, all without human interaction? I'll show you how to do this with your current technology stack (no special languages, tools, frameworks, or products). In this two-part session I will leverage both slides and live coding using Java and RabbitMQ to describe and demonstrate how to build reactive systems. Get ready for the future of software architecture - that you can start implementing on Monday.

Part 2 Agenda

• Thread Delegate Pattern (scalability)
• Threshold Adjust Pattern (automatic configuration and self-learning)
• Producer Control Flow Pattern (self-healing)

Software Development AntiPatterns

8:30 PM MDT

The ancient Chinese warrior Sun Tzu taught his men to “know your enemy” before going into battle. For developers, the equivalent is knowing and understanding software development anti-patterns – things that we repeatedly do that produce negative results. Anti-patterns are used by developers, architects and managers every day, and are one of the main factors preventing progress and success. In this humorous and fast-paced session we will take a deep-dive look at some of the more common and significant software development anti-patterns. Through coding and design examples you will see how these anti-patterns emerge, how to recognize when an anti-pattern is being used, and most importantly, learn how to avoid them through effective software development techniques and practices. Although most of the coding examples are in Java, this is largely a technology-agnostic session.

Agenda:

• Introduction
• A look at 5 common software development anti-patterns

The Art of Problem Solving

11:00 AM MDT

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

Enterprise Architecture Fundamentals

1:30 PM MDT

Too many companies embark on enterprise architecture efforts only to have them fail. One of the biggest reasons for these failed attempts at enterprise architecture is that no one really knows what it is. Ask 10 people what enterprise architecture is, and you are guaranteed to get 10 different answers. Enterprise architecture is more than drawing lots of enterprise-level future-state architecture diagrams – it is about being able to bridge the gap between business needs and IT capabilities. In this session you will learn about the context and goals of enterprise architecture, what skills are necessary to become an enterprise architect, and how to model the enterprise. We'll also take a look at transformation techniques for both data and systems across the enterprise.

Agenda:

• What is enterprise architecture?
• Enterprise architecture goals
• Enterprise architecture frameworks
• Enterprise architecture core models
• Enterprise architecture initiatives
• Enterprise architecture transformation techniques
• Enterprise architecture communication strategies
• Enterprise architecture roadmaps
• Enterprise architecture resources