#120 - Software Architecture: From Fundamentals to the Hard Parts - Neal Ford

“Everything in software architecture is a trade-off, and the why is more important than how." Neal Ford is a Director and software architect at ThoughtWorks. In this episode, we discussed all things about software architecture covering his three most recent books: “Fundamentals of Software Architecture”, “Software Architecture: The Hard Parts”, and “Building Evolutionary Architectures”. We first discussed the definition of software architecture and how it relates to software design. Neal then described the two important laws of software architecture related to trade-offs and the why. Neal then explained why software architecture is difficult and discussed the hard parts, such as finding the least-worst combination trade-offs, understanding the importance of data, and managing coupling. Towards the end, Neal shared about the evolutionary architecture concept and some of its principles to support making incremental change across multiple software architectural dimensions. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:25] Definition of Software Architecture - [00:10:48] Software Architecture vs Design - [00:14:29] Laws of Software Architecture - [00:16:24] The Hard Parts of Software Architecture - [00:20:55] Least-Worst Combination of Trade-offs - [00:26:42] Importance of Data - [00:29:51] Coupling and The 3 Co’s - [00:35:54] Evolutionary Architecture - [00:40:11] Incremental Change - [00:45:26] Principles of Evolutionary Architecture - [00:49:32] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:01] _____ Neal Ford’s Bio Neal Ford is Director, Software Architect, and Meme Wrangler at ThoughtWorks. He is also the designer and developer of applications, articles, video presentations, and author and/or editor of an increasingly large number of books spanning a variety of subjects and technologies, including the two most recent Fundamentals of Software Architecture and Building Evolutionary Architectures. His professional focus includes designing and building of large-scale enterprise applications. He is also an internationally acclaimed speaker, speaking at over 700 developer conferences worldwide, delivering more than 3000 presentations. Follow Neal: Website – nealford.com Twitter – @neal4d _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/120.