When a team builds a system primarily around reuse, they also incur a huge amount of coupling between components.
- Source: Fundamentals of Software Architecture - Chapter 16, p241
When an architect designs a system that favors reuse, they also favor coupling to achieve that reuse, either by inheritance or composition. However; if the architect’s goal requires high degrees of decoupling,then they favor duplication over reuse.
- Source: Fundamentals of Software Architecture - Chapter 17, p246
Don’t try to find the best design in software architecture; instead, strive for the least worst combination of trade-offs.
- Source: Software Architecture: The Hard Parts - Chapter 1, p2
Data is a precious thing and will last longer than the systems themselves.
- Source: Software Architecture: The Hard Parts - Chapter 1, p4
There are no right or wrong answers in architecture - only trade-offs
- Source: Software Architecture: The Hard Parts - Chapter 2, 30
A second common style of definition for architecture is that it’s “the design decisions that need to be made early in a project”, but Ralph complained about this too, saying that it was more like the decisions you wish you could get right early in a project. His conclusion was that “Architecture is about the important stuff. Whatever that is” - (Martin fowler) Note that “what is important” means that (expert) developers decide what is important, a simple webapp, the DB could be important, but for a medical imaging app, a detail.
There are no wrong answers in architecture, only expensive ones
- Source: Fundamentals of Software Architecture - Chapter 5, p74
Developers are drawn to complexity like months to a flame, frequently with the same result.
- Neal Ford
Since hindsight no longer leads to foresight after a shift in context, a corresponding change in management style may be called for.
Conway’s law suggest major gains from designing software architecture and team interactions together, since they are similar forces.
- Source: Team Topologies Book
Promote software to a profit center, and demand strategic innovations as the only acceptable result.