[HN Gopher] How Much Architecture Is "Enough?"
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       How Much Architecture Is "Enough?"
        
       Author : alexzeitler
       Score  : 36 points
       Date   : 2024-01-29 11:55 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.infoq.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.infoq.com)
        
       | brodouevencode wrote:
       | I've found that using techniques like C4 address this issue
        
         | chrisweekly wrote:
         | hmm, not sure I understand how a particular approach to
         | diagramming architecture even relates to things like
         | determining the value of an MVP.
         | 
         | I found the linked article insightful, and the focus on making
         | the MVA an explicit and crucial peer of a given MVP is, for me,
         | a helpful framing of concerns that too often remain indistinct.
        
           | brodouevencode wrote:
           | C4 pushes a broad view on the state of is and will be, with
           | successive "zooming in" at different layers. The act of such
           | allows you to figure out what's necessary and what's not,
           | while also pushing the builders into thinking in terms of
           | reusability/overlap/components/interfaces. Personal
           | experience has proved that I wind up architecting for _less_
           | using this approach.
        
         | Veuxdo wrote:
         | C4 is about diagramming software systems, and primarily
         | existing ones at that. Not sure what this has to do with
         | creating MVAs.
        
           | Am4TIfIsER0ppos wrote:
           | I think that is a joke about bombs.
        
         | ActionHank wrote:
         | I find that asking do I really need this right now? Is
         | generally good enough. Diagrams just help to see the lay of the
         | land.
        
       | bbor wrote:
       | I really liked this article. Very concise, clear, and I like the
       | systematic thinking of "what are we really DOING here?". If the
       | author(s) read this: make sure to define your acronyms in the
       | TLDR up top, since it pops up first. Tiny thing but might help
       | engagement rates - I almost clicked away thinking MVA was some
       | business school concept, not knowing this was part of a series.
       | 
       | I've been reading a lot of Kant recently and he has two ideas I
       | think could be helpful to modern software engineering:
       | 
       | 1. Using the word "architectonics" to describe the science of
       | structures. Now it's only used for the brain (Cytoarchitectonics)
       | and some other small academic fields, sadly. I think that would
       | be an awesome evolution for the slowly-outmoded agile coaches of
       | the industry: "Architectonic consultants" or "architectonics".
       | 
       | 2. He thinks an important principle of Architectonics is not to
       | just collect a bunch of components until you have a system that
       | works, but rather to start with the top level, deduce the
       | divisions within the structure that are necessary, and only then
       | start filling in the details. In the practical world of
       | engineering this isn't always necessary, but I've found it really
       | helpful, for the exact reasons discussed in this post (scoping,
       | not getting ahead of yourself, allowing for growth without doing
       | unnecessarily early work, etc)
        
         | asolove wrote:
         | Folks who enjoy this should consider reading Christopher
         | Alexander's "The Nature of Order", which has some philosophy
         | and metaphysics, but also a lot of analysis of concrete
         | examples, of how complex structures come to be. It also
         | attempts to analyze the process-oriented reasons behind
         | guidelines like this.
        
         | CyberDildonics wrote:
         | That's called architecture. We don't need new terms to convince
         | people they are doing something new so they feel better about
         | reinventing the wheel and never making it round.
        
       | wmil wrote:
       | You'll know your architecture is complex enough when diagrams of
       | it land you a big raise at a new company.
       | 
       | Until then you need more services.
        
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