What is the most cost-effective way to maintain software architecture?

What I have understood while working on Software Architecture is that you have plan and design architecture for reusability perspective. Try to have as much as loosy coupled components so that they can be migrated with minimal changes between project/product. Abstraction is the key factor here when designing the software architecture. In today's scenario, defining a standalone software component with very well designed service provided by it becomes important.

Documentation is the key. The first step would be to document the current architecture before even start thinking about what improvement can be made. Another important aspect is through documentation you will be able to measure the improvement for future versions against the current state.

Visualizing architecture is the most important step. Boxes and arrows play a vital role in identifying the strength and weaknesses in an architecture like unnecessary network hops, caching etc. Tools like draw.io, lucid etc. can be used to get the HLD and LLD in place

Documentation: Keep comprehensive and up-to-date documentation to ease understanding and troubleshooting. Modularity and Encapsulation: Design modular components to allow for easier updates without system-wide impact. Version Control: Use version control systems like Git to track changes and facilitate collaboration. Automated Testing: Implement robust automated testing to catch issues early and reduce bug-fixing costs. Monitoring and Logging: Set up monitoring and logging for real-time issue detection, reducing downtime. Regular Code Reviews: Conduct regular code reviews to ensure quality, adherence to standards, and issue detection. Agile Development and Training and Skill Development

Manter a arquitetura: Documenta??o, Modularidade, Padr?es, Refatora??o, Testes, Dependências, Monitoramento, Reuso, CI/CD, Avalia??o, Treinamento.

Para manter a arquitetura de software, aplique princípios como Separation of Concerns e Modularidade, e utilize padr?es como Layers e Microservices. Essas diretrizes promovem clareza, flexibilidade e reusabilidade. A coes?o, baixo acoplamento e abstra??o aprimoram a qualidade. Ao seguir padr?es como MVC, Event-Driven, fortalece-se a legibilidade e escalabilidade da arquitetura. Essa abordagem técnica garante consistência e facilita a adapta??o da arquitetura às demandas evolutivas do software.

The key to a cost-effective and maintainable architecture lies in the strategic application of design principles like SOLID, and design patterns such as Singleton, Factory, and Observer. These methodologies facilitate code reusability, ease future modifications, and ensure scalability. By investing in these principles, we can significantly reduce technical debt and future maintenance costs, leading the way for a more robust and adaptable system.

An example I have seen is that businesses are not willing to invest in new technologies which make your existing architecture a technical debt over the time essentially hard to support. This results in creating Silos across teams. As a technical person, you should advocate for the change and convince business to move to new technologies as soon as possible.

Princípios e padr?es s?o essenciais aumentar a longevidade e facilitar a manutenibilidade de uma aplica??o. Código redundante, comentários desnecessários e variáveis/métodos n?o utilizados s?o reflexos de uma arquitetura caótica e/ou a ausência de uma.

Implementing a microservices architecture in a lending platform allows for the development of independent, scalable, and deployable services. Each microservice can focus on a specific business capability, such as loan origination or risk assessment, making it easier to maintain and update.

Deciding to refactor can be challenging, as it often appears costly in the short term and is typically reactive. This necessity usually arises from architectural limitations, scalability issues, or a high number of quality problems in the product. In my opinion, the best practice is to adopt a systematic and proactive approach for identifying refactoring needs. It's crucial for an organization to be prepared to invest in this process, as it may require additional resources, extensive testing cycles, etc. Proactive refactoring, despite its initial costs, can significantly contribute to long-term efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Research and consider a modular architecture approach so that when in future update requires you can update in phases. Moreover modular architecture is much easier to manage the upgrades and keep track. Consider the CI/CD pipeline approach along with test automation to make the system upgrade process smooth and manageable.

Refactoring involves systematically improving the internal structure of existing code to enhance its efficiency, readability, and maintainability, without altering its external behavior. Key refactoring techniques like modularizing code, optimizing data structures, implementing design patterns, and improving algorithm efficiency play a vital role. Such practices streamlines the architecture, making it more resilient to changes.

Every time I refactor my code, I find a great way to develop its functionality and refactor the code with team members will help more

O terceiro passo vital na manuten??o da arquitetura de software é a refatora??o regular e incremental. Esse processo aprimora a estrutura interna do código sem impactar seu comportamento externo. Elimina dívidas técnicas, reduz complexidade e otimiza desempenho. Ferramentas como extra??o de métodos e renomea??o de variáveis s?o essenciais para tornar o código mais limpo. Introduzir polimorfismo pode aumentar a clareza. Testes de unidade e integra??o s?o cruciais para evitar regress?es. Adotar refatora??o regular e incremental assegura a sustentabilidade da arquitetura, facilitando a adapta??o contínua e a evolu??o do software.

This is a empiric kownledge, but legacy code and outdated framework cost more than updated framework of whatever stack of technology your software is using. Imagine that you have an old car and is better to buy a new version of it because on the long term you will spend less money with fixing issue than trying and insist in something old.

Novas tecnologias surgem todos os dias, embora isso n?o signifique que temos que atualizar nossa stack na mesma velocidade, ainda é necessário ter momentos periódicos para avaliar o que faz sentido para o projeto e o que n?o faz. Atualizar n?o é só adotar novas tecnologias, mas também remover aquilo que n?o faz mais sentido ou n?o tem o melhor resultado.

Nem sempre atualizar as tecnologias é necessário. Colete dados sobre os ganhos que você terá ao atualizar a tech stack, mas também se pergunte se tais ganhos valem o esfor?o necessário para fazer essa atualiza??o. Quase sempre algo mais simples como mudar a vers?o de uma dependência exige dias para que o sistema funcione perfeitamente, e por isso atualiza??es devem ser levadas a sério e com cautela.

To maintain software architecture cost-effectively, it's essential to consistently update your technology stack. This involves keeping the tools and frameworks used in development, runtime, and deployment aligned with your architectural goals. Regular evaluations help decide whether adopting new technologies or removing outdated ones is beneficial. While updates can bring security and new features, careful consideration is needed to weigh the gains against the effort required. In the ever-evolving tech landscape, continuous improvement is necessary to stay competitive and minimize any gaps.

This seems to be a simple subject although very complex in practice. New technologiy brings more security, new features, and new possibilities. On the other hand, old technologies are not so easy to replace, especially in applications that took years of development. But it gets worse as time passes and when there are no longer professionals who can master such old technologies. In other words, we are forced to change technologies due to several factors.. I've had to migrate some applications across different technologies over the years and I can say that this is not as easy as it seems. I hope that in the not-so-distant future migrations will be less traumatic.

Collaboration is always key to success. Share your vision with your teammates, stakeholders, have an open conversation to talk about how the future state can take away or solve certain pain points, discuss the pros and cons about a particular approach and finally come to an agreement.

Manter toda a documenta??o do sistema em opera??o atualizado e integrado com a equipe é essencial para o melhoramento e o bom funcionamento, ficar atento aos gargalos do sistema e sua eficiência mostrará se ele suporta a demanda programada ou lhe permitirá melhorias escaladas.

N?o apenas time e stakeholders, mas tente obter feedback dos usuários finais também. Quanto mais vis?es distintas você tiver do sistema, mais no??o vai ter dos impactos que cada mudan?a pode gerar no produto final, principalmente na experiência de uso dos usuários finais.

To keep software architecture maintenance cost-effective, it's essential to engage your team and stakeholders. Work collaboratively with them to shape the architectural vision, define scope and requirements, and regularly share designs transparently using diagrams and documents. Seek feedback not only from the team but also from end users to gather diverse perspectives. This inclusive and collaborative approach cultivates commitment, stability, and ongoing evolution within both the architecture and processes.

A evangeliza??o do time, o comprometimento, o sentimento de fazer parte do processo, envolvimento , isso mantém a arquitetura, processos em plena estabilidade aceitável, com isso sempre estará em plena evolu??o.

Clearly define things like SLA, SLO and consider automated monitoring tools like New Relic to constantly monitor the performance and reliability of your platform. Clearly define and implement SOP for incidents which will ensure swift response and keep the incidents under control. These matrices will also help you to identify the areas of improvement.

To keep software architecture good and cheap, use tools like SonarQube, Prometheus, and New Relic. SonarQube checks code quality, Prometheus watches performance, and New Relic helps see how the software is doing in real time. These tools help find what needs to be better, making sure your software stays strong and doesn't cost too much in the long run.

Muito importante monitorar, existem ferramentas ótimas para isso. Além de monitorar, analisar os dados de monitoramento para aumentar a precis?o das tomadas de decis?o

Mantener la arquitectura de software implica la vigilancia constante y la evaluación de su rendimiento e impacto. Se deberán utilizar diversas herramientas y métodos, como registros, métricas, paneles y alertas, para recopilar y analizar datos. Estos datos proporcionarán información valiosa sobre cómo se comporta la arquitectura en distintos escenarios, afectando la calidad, confiabilidad y eficiencia del software. Al definir y seguir indicadores específicos y atributos de calidad, se facilita la identificación de áreas de mejora. Este monitoreo continuo no solo fortalece la arquitectura, sino que también la hace tan ágil como los negocios de hoy, adaptándose de manera efectiva a los cambios y desafíos del entorno empresarial.

PDCA no DNA ! Quem n?o planeja, n?o faz, n?o monitora e n?o age !! Num ambiente computacional métricas s?o de su.a importancia para atingir o ápice da qualidade e eficiência.

Keeping your software architecture in top shape? It's all about staying organized and keeping things tidy. Regularly review and update the architecture – don't let it get stale. When new features or tech come along, make sure they fit smoothly into the existing setup. Documentation is your friend here; keep it clear and up-to-date so anyone can get the gist of your system. Encourage your team to flag up any clunky or confusing bits – fresh eyes can spot stuff you might miss. And don't be afraid to trim the fat – if something's not working or needed, better to cut it out than let it clog up your system. Stay on top of it, and your architecture will stay solid.

Considere realizar todos os passos anteriores com regularidade. Lembre-se que a melhoria contínua é o que possibilita que o seu software se mantenha em uso, aderente a novas e modernas tecnologias e estruturas. A melhoria contínua é uma estratégia que utilizada no mercado de tecnologia da informa??o, fomenta tanto a evolu??o técnica quanto a evolu??o a nível de negócio.

One of the best choices in my experience is revolving around review the others code in git that I called it Seeing practice. Seeing practice makes your mindset strange and give you a power to manage your code base like a great community.

A parte mais importante ao planejar a manuten??o e evolu??o de um sistema é decidir por onde come?ar. Aqui é que todos os pontos anteriores se combinam, pois somente tendo uma perspectiva completa da arquitetura é que somos capazes de identificar os "low hanging fruits". Ter ganhos rápidos, mesmo que pequenos, neste processo de evolu??o permitem n?o apenas que o sistema comece a melhorar mais rápido, como também angariar capital financeiro e político para continuar o processo. é fundamental ter recursos para garantir que a melhoria possa ser continuada, antes que venha uma ordem de cima para abandonar o projeto.

In my experience, business owners tend to be hesitant about investing in new technologies over time. To achieve an optimal architecture, it is crucial to consistently transition to the latest stable technology to prevent the accumulation of technical debt. This practice also leads to the formation of silos within the organization. While documentation is essential, the individuals responsible for reviewing it are often the ones who overlook this aspect. As technical leaders and contributors, it is our responsibility to persuade businesses to consistently adopt new technology, emphasizing that it shouldn't be a simple lift-and-shift approach. I understand that both technical professionals and business leaders are often resistant to change.