What actually happens when we make a decision about a software architecture? How do we map from a business context to a component structure? How do we make decisions about granularity and arrive at monoliths or microservices? Is it heuristic? Is it a repeatable pattern? How do we know if it’s right? Why do we get this wrong so often?

This session takes a step back and looks at the relationship between a business context and software structure using tools from the complexity sciences that help us to clarify our decision making and understand the forces that drive us to think in certain patterns. The session will take traditional methods like process and capability mapping and add a new layer of understanding that will help architects and developers avoid the mistakes of the past. The session will help us to think about where the levers are to make our designs more flexible and identify the places where we can copy from others and, most importantly, where we need to think for ourselves.