Fostering an evolving architecture in the agile world

Room 3 (Sabre)

What is software architecture? Is it the decision to adopt microservices? Is it the document that describes the layers in your Java EE application? No, every line of code you commit is part of your evolving architecture.

During this talk I'll explain how we, at the Port of Rotterdam, manage our software architecture in an highly agile environment building a successful harbour management system. We spend the last two years transitioning from a modular monolith to a microservice environment.

How did our architecture evolve? What is the role of the architect? Do we even need an architect? We'll dive into problems like cargo cult, survivorship bias, shared responsibility, technical debt and system design. In the talk I'll tell about our experiences and the do's and don'ts we've encountered.