Antipatterns and lessons learned on many failed and few successful architecture projects

1. Architectures:
the Good, the Bad and
the Ugly
Miha Kralj
Senior Architect
Microsoft

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• Structures and relationships, static and dynamic
views, assumptions and rationale
• Focus: decomposition and allocation of
responsibility, interface design, assignment to processes and
threads
• Use model and guidelines; policies, mechanisms and design
patterns; frameworks, infrastructure and standards
• Focus: guide engineers in creating designs that maintain the integrity of
the architecture
Guides
Developers
• Architectural vision, principles, styles, concepts and mechanisms
• Focus: high-level decisions that will strongly influence the structure of the
system; rules certain structural choices out, and guides selection
decisions and tradeoffs among others
Guides
Architects

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Process, Component, Deployment View
Logical Architecture Detailed Diagrams, Functional Specs
Conceptual Architecture Abstract View, Component Break-down
Meta-Architecture Architectural vision, style and principles

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good stuff bad stuff

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Always compliment
women. Nobody
really cares if they
are well-dressed or
not.

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(What do we do?)

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Remember the
preference

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User LAN
User LAN
Backup LAN
Backup LAN
Mgmt LAN
Mgmt LAN
iLO LAN
Heartbeat LAN
Heartbeat LAN
iSCSI SAN
iSCSI SAN
User LAN
User LAN

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Enterprise? Cloud???
OMG…
Single user Peer net

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YetAnother Fine Layer
Cream
Sponge
Custard
Berries
Sponge
Custard
Berries
Sponge
Custard
Yum!

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SQL Server
Project
Server
2003
Project
Professional
2003
PdsRequest.asp
Username
PasswordGo wild,
grab data
POST
http://SERVER/projectserver/logon/pdsrequest.asp
<Request>
<GetInitializationData>
<Release>1</Release>
</GetInitializationData>
</Request>
<Reply>
<HRESULT>0</HRESULT>
<STATUS>0</STATUS>
<UserName>mihak</UserName>
<GetInitializationData>
<GetLoginInformation>
<DBType>0</DBType>
<DVR>{SQLServer}</DVR>
<DB>ProjectServer</DB>
<SVR>SERVER</SVR>
<ResGlobalID>1</ResGlobalID>
<ResGlobalName>resglobal</ResGlobalName>
<UserName>MSProjectUser</UserName>
<Password>P@ssw0rd</Password>
<UserNTAccount>SERVERUSER</UserNTAccount>
</GetLoginInformation>
</Reply>

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Man who eats
many prunes gets
good run for
money.

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(degrees of freedom)
Supported
scenarios:

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(specific vs. generic)
1965 2010
100%
0%
Function
Assembler COBOL SQL Web
Application-Specific
General-Purpose
Application Logic
Business Process Logic
Data Logic
Data

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Build to grow
Build to specifications

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Identifier Format Protocol
IP Address IP packet IP ProtocolTCP/IP
@ Address RFC 2822 SMTPE-mail
URL HTML httpWeb
URI SOAP
envelope
SOAP
payload
Ws-*
Address
Reference
Name
Document
Message
Container
Method
Operation
Process

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Uncertainty
Uncertainty
Simple
Interface (IFaP)
Generic Solutions
Federated Components
Minimal Spec
Wide range of
implementations
Wide range of uses

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MicrosoftMicrosoft
AppModel
AppModel
AppModel
AppModel
AppModel
AppModel
Generic AppModel

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(Thin-waist design)
Salesforce.com
RESTful
operations
10mio calls per day
live.com
Live API
Live-aware apps
Amazon.com
AWS
Thriving ecosystem

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Thin waist will
make you pretty.

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Records
Mgmt.
Order
Mgmt.
Inv./
Shipping
CRM
Current Model
Checkout
Protocol
Inventory
Protocol
Data Retention
Protocol
CRM
Protocol
Future Model
Protocols are inherently stable.
Applications are not.

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Data Code
GeneralSpecific
Unstable Stable
Instance
Data
Metadata Class
Instance
Fold knowledge into
data, so program logic
can be stupid and robust
What needs to be easy to
understand and change
goes into data
What will be stable goes
into code
Data should depend on code.
Code should not depend on data.

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"Service"
Generic
Rendering
Engine
Data
Generic
Process
Engine
Data
Generic
Rule
Engine
Data
Generic
Data
Engine
Data
Parser
Generator
<Rules>
e.g., BRML
<Processes>
e.g., BPEL
<Views>
e.g., XQuery
<UI>
e.g., XHTML
"Service"
DataDataData Data
Parser
Generator
<Rules>
<Processes>
<Views>
<UI>
Update
Edit Response
Request
SoftwareMetadata
Generic
Rule
Engine
Generic
Process
Engine
Generic
Data
Engine
Generic
Rendering
Engine

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Guest OS
App B
App A
Guest OS
app
Owned by Company A
Owned by Company
B, executing on the host
Owned by Company
C, streamed to the host
Owned by User, running
in the Geoplex, streamed
to the host
Shared, temporary owned
for contracting purposes

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Reaching human limits
When
process, platforms, technologies, workforc
e and governance are defined in advance
and rarely met.
Quality
Limited by human nature — you can enter
code no faster than you can type. Limited
multitasking.
Speed
Cheap (offshored) AD labor is limited by
socioeconomic factors.
Cost
Manual Labor
Machines' way of life —
virtually unlimited
When
process, platforms, technologies, workforce
and governance are measured and
improved in real time
Unlimited multitasking and variables
handling
Machines
What could be cheaper than "software
machine" with industrialized production?

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We always need
strong hands on
the plow.

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