Latest Posts - Page 63 of 205

April 28, 2022April 18, 2022 Architecture Patterns and Anti-Patterns

Using Patterns and Anti-Patterns : Season Wrap-up

We end this season with a look at using patterns and anti-patterns throughout your work. The value they provide is obvious and costs little. We gain the lessons learned from others and have those available for our projects. Those experiences are valuable to us and jumpstart our solutions. Using Patterns Patterns are just that. They provide a recommended series of steps or an approach. However, they are not the solution. We need to use these tools as an outline or guide to building our specific solution. That means we may need to add or subtract from a pattern to make the most of it. Do not consider these to be hard and fast rules. Rather, review them and determine where... Read more

April 26, 2022April 17, 2022 Architecture Patterns and Anti-Patterns

Big Hairy Audacious Goals – An Anti-Pattern

The BHAG or Big Hairy Audacious Goals approach to vision or roadmaps is often recommended. The objective is to keep from limiting ourselves. The problem is that too much of a good thing can turn into a mental block or analysis paralysis. Too many options or too many tasks to complete is often overwhelming. The Big Hairy Audacious Goals Anti-Pattern Defined This anti-pattern occurs when the focus is on the overall goals or scope rather than what is in front of you. There is a difference between seeing a goal and being able to complete it today. While people generally see that difference, it is not always made clear. That can lead to a sort of “are we there yet,... Read more

April 21, 2022April 10, 2022 Architecture Patterns and Anti-Patterns

Rinse And Repeat – A template pattern

One of the most powerful and useful patterns I have come across is one we will call rinse and repeat. It may also be seen as copy and paste or templates. However, the result is a way to rapidly generate a lot of similar solutions within an architecture or system. The Rinse And Repeat Pattern Defined The essential piece of the rinse and repeat pattern is a similarity in approaching a series of problems. This pattern becomes apparent when we solve a problem and then move on to another very close in its structure. For example, the classic almost anti-pattern of a class full of getters and setters can use this pattern. You build a list of attributes, build out... Read more

April 19, 2022April 10, 2022 Architecture Patterns and Anti-Patterns

The Rosetta Stone Pattern – A Common Format

Our new patterns include the rosetta stone. This pattern provides a path to link disparate systems and their data formats. It comes from the historical rosetta stone which was a multilingual text used to decipher ancient languages. We use this as a sort of pathway to a common language for our application. The Rosetta Stone Pattern Defined Modern software often has multiple other systems that need to be integrated with. That means we need to pass data back and forth. The format and structure of the data we send can be challenging to map across multiple systems. The rosetta stone pattern approaches this problem by designing a single format that all of our data will transform into or be exported... Read more

April 14, 2022April 4, 2022 Architecture Patterns and Anti-Patterns

The Worst That Can Happen – An Architectural Pattern

We continue on a series of new patterns and anti-patterns with “the worst that can happen.” This pattern uses fear and hyperbole to help us tighten up a design. We imagine what can go wrong and use that as a guide for applying fixes, hooks, and exceptions. Thus, this pattern is more a process than a pattern per se. However, it is an important step we can take to validate and strengthen our solution. The Worst That Can Happen Pattern Defined The pattern is applied by reviewing an architectural design or component with the mindset of the worst that can happen. Thus, we force ourselves to think outside the box and play our way through difficult scenarios. Disaster recovery planning... Read more

April 12, 2022April 4, 2022 Architecture Patterns and Anti-Patterns

Technical Debt – Yes, That Is A Pattern

The idea of technical debt is a hot topic among software development groups. In particular, this concept shows up in agile efforts. While it is more a concept than a pattern, we can use this as a pattern for our design and development work. In fact, it lines up well with the Pareto principle and pushing details off until after delivery. The Technical Debt Pattern Defined I like to think of technical debt architecture as boxes and connections that are dotted lines. We sometimes see a whole section of functionality surrounded by a dotted line fence. These are referred to as future features or possibly optional. These items are, in fact, technical debt in the design. We are assuming they... Read more