Principle of Architectural Agility

This principle highlights the importance of designing software architectures that can adapt to changing requirements and conditions. Architects should consider using techniques such as modular design, microservices, or other architectural patterns that promote flexibility and adaptability. This principle appears in Building Evolutionary Architectures by Ford and Parsons.

The Principle of Architectural Agility, while not as widely recognized as some other principles, is an important concept in modern software architecture. It emphasizes the need to design software architectures that can adapt to changing requirements, conditions, or technologies. The term "Architectural Agility" is more of a philosophy that encompasses several practices and patterns that enable a system to evolve more easily.

Although the term itself might not be as widely referenced, the underlying idea is echoed in various architectural styles, methodologies, and literature. The concept of architectural agility is closely related to Agile software development methodologies, which prioritize flexibility and adaptability in software projects.

Other areas of software development that support architectural agility include:

• Agile Software Development, whose methodologies focus on iterative development and adapting to change, often allowing for ongoing architectural agility.
• Microservices Architecture, which is designed to break systems into small, loosely-coupled services that can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently. Each microservice can evolve without requiring the entire system to be impacted.
• Continuous Delivery and DevOps, practices that emphasize close collaboration between development and operations teams, and promote rapid, frequent, reliable delivery of software.

References

• Building Evolutionary Architectures: Support Constant Change
• Agile Software Development Ecosystems
• Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems
• Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation