Just Enough Software Architecture: A Risk-Driven Approach - Hardcover

Fairbanks, George

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0984618104 ISBN 13: 9780984618101

Publisher: Marshall & Brainerd, 2010

Synopsis

This practical guide seeks to make architecture relevant to all software developers. Developers need to understand how to use constraints as guiderails that ensure desired outcomes, and how seemingly small changes can affect a system's properties.

About this title

Review

...it provides a refreshing and non-dogmatic way to approach software architecture—one with enormous practical value. ... a uniquely practical and approachable contribution to the field of software architecture. For anyone who must create innovative software systems, for anyone who is faced with tough decisions about design tradeoffs, for anyone who must find an appropriate balance between agility and discipline—in short, for almost any software engineer—this is essential reading.
—From the Foreword by David Garlan, Professor, School of Computer Science and Director, Professional Software Engineering Programs, Carnegie Mellon University

This book reflects the author’s rare mix of deep knowledge of software architecture concepts and extensive industry experience as a developer. If you’re an architect, you will want the developers in your organization to read this book. If you’re a developer, do read it. The book is about architecture in real (not ideal) software projects. It describes a context that you recognize and then it shows you how to improve your design practice in that context.
—Paulo Merson, practicing software architect and Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI)

The risk-driven model approach described ... has been applied to the XIM project here at the NASA Johnson Space Center with much success. ... a must for all members of the project from project management to individual developers. In fact, it is a must for every developer’s tool belt. (The Code Model section and the anti-patterns alone are worth the cost of the book!). ...
—Christopher Dean, Chief Architect, XIM, Engineering Science Contract Group, NASA Johnson Space Center

... George Fairbanks’ outstanding new book distills the best of the latest architecture research to provide clear, concrete, practical and actionable advice that serves as a bungee cord for those application architects ready to take the plunge and leverage new architecture best practices to improve their applications. ... an important contribution to the IT application architecture literature and may well become a standard reference work for enterprise application architects.
—Dr. Ian Maung, former Senior Vice President of Enterprise Architecture, Citigroup, and Director of Enterprise Architecture, Covance

Just Enough Software Architecture will coach you in the strategic and tactical application of the tools and strategies of software architecture to your software projects. ... Whether you are a developer or an architect, this book is a solid foundation and reference for your architectural endeavors.
—Nicholas Sherman, Program Manager, Microsoft

... a one-of-a-kind book. ... I particularly like his idea of presenting architecture specifically as a way to deal with risks—I find this to be a key insight that makes a convincing argument for the approach illustrated by the book.
—Dr. Richard LeBlanc, Chair of Computer Science and Software Engineering Department, University of Seattle

This book presents a unique view on software architecture that makes it both accessible and practical. The concepts of just enough architecture and risk-driven design are breakthrough ideas developed by Fairbanks. ... I found it extremely useful and a must-read for anyone working in software development.
—Dr. Marcus Fontoura, Principal Research Scientist and Architect, Yahoo! Research, and author of The UML Profile for Framework Architectures

...The risk-driven approach to design presented in this book helps software developers understand how much design is needed so they can quickly get back to writing code and providing value to customers in the form of working software. If you’re only going to read one book on software architecture, start with this one. ...
—Michael Keeling, professional software engineer

This book directly tackles some key needs of software practitioners who seek that blend of tools to help them create more effective systems, more effectively. ... an important addition to any software architecture bookshelf.
—Desmond D’Souza, author of MAp and Catalysis, Kinetium, Inc.

... it captures and concisely conveys to designers of software-intensive systems just what they need to know about today’s (sadly) buzzword-laden minefield of software architecture. ... This is a worthy book, a joy to read, and one I wish I had earlier in my career ... It is deserving of a place on your shelf if you want become a better software designer.
—Dr. Timothy J. Halloran, Director of Engineering, SureLogic Inc.

System and software developers questioning why and where about software architecture will appreciate the clear arguments and enlightening analogies this book presents; developers struggling with when and how to do architecture will discover just-enough guidance, along with concepts and ideas that clarify, empower, and liberate. ... All in all, this book is easy to read, concise, yet rich with references—a well-architected and finely-designed book!
—Dr. Shang-Wen Cheng, Carnegie Mellon ISR alumnus and flight software engineer

... should appeal to any developers trying to work out how to make the architecting process tractable. ... should help developers interested in understanding the broader theory and practice apply these concepts to their projects.
—Dr. Bradley Schmerl, Senior Systems Scientist, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

This book shows how software architecture helps you build software instead of distracting from the job: the book lets you identify and address (only) those critical architectural concerns that would otherwise prevent you from writing code.
—Dr. Kevin Bierhoff, software engineering professional

... this book shows you how to drive your architecture design based on risks. The book gives you a risk-driven approach, and discusses good architectural practices, models, styles and techniques to create the architecture.
—Guido Zgraggen, alumnus of Carnegie Mellon’s Master of Software Engineering program

About the Author

Dr. George Fairbanks has been teaching software architecture and object-oriented design for more than ten years at companies, including Kinetium, Valtech, and Platinum Technology. In spring 2008, he was the co-instructor for the graduate software architecture course at Carnegie Mellon University. He is currently the president of Rhino Research, a consulting and training company specializing in software design and architecture.

Dr. Fairbanks holds a Ph.D. in Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. His dissertation introduced design fragments, a new way to specify and assure the correct use of frameworks through static analysis.

He has published on the topics of frameworks and software development in selective academic conferences, including OOPSLA and ICSE. He also has written production code for telephone switches, plugins for the Eclipse IDE, and everything for his own web dot-com startup. Dr. Fairbanks maintains a network of Linux servers in his spare time. He was a program committee member for 2009 Working International Conference on Software Architecture and has been a referee for IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering and IEEE Software.

Edition details

• Publisher: Marshall & Brainerd
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0984618104
• ISBN 13: 9780984618101
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 360