agile architecting with rcda · 2018-12-30 · • scalable architecting (smaller projects start...

© CGI Group Inc. CONFIDENTIAL

Agile Architecting with RCDA

Eltjo Poort

Dr. Eltjo Poort

Distinguished Solution Architect

2

With 25 years of experience as an architect in the digital world,

Eltjo is an internationally renowned speaker and author in his field.

He is the award-winning founder and owner of Risk- and Cost-

Driven Architecture, CGI’s agile architecture approach.

RCDAFounder / ownerCGI’s agile architecture

approach

PhDImproving Solution

Architecting Practices

ArchitecturePractice Lead

Reviewer

Coach

Agile transformer

30 Years experience in

software industry

14Peer-reviewed publications

2 Best paper awards

1993Joined CGI

2016 Linda Northrop Architecture

Award

http://eltjopoort.nl

Combining Architecture with Agile working

Conflicting paradigms?

Too much architecture leads to…

• Late business value delivery?

• Trouble responding to change?

• Slow learning from experience?

• Wasted design effort?

Too much agile practice leads to…

• Ill-considered, inconsistent choices?

• Re-inventing the wheel?

• Technical debt accumulation?

• Short-lived solutions?

3

Do we still need Architecture?

Result Improvement by applying Solution Architecture

Budget predictability 2-3 x better Std dev 32 → 13

Budget overrun 7 x less 22% → 3%

Time overrun 6 x less 48% → 8%

Troubled projects 3 x less 38% → 13%

Customer satisfaction 1-2 points better 10 point scale

Results delivered +10%

4

Survey among 49 software development projects between €50,000 and

€2,500,000. Reported by Raymond Slot, PhD Thesis, 2010.

Benefits of combining Agile and Architecture

5

Architecture

• Up-front design

• Structural stability

• Standardization

• Stability

• Risk and cost control

Balance

• Shortening the learning cycle

• Just enough anticipation

• Decentral where possible, standards where necessary

• Architectural design with a short feedback loop

• Balancing architecture and agile based on business rationale and not on dogma

Agile

• Experimentation

• Business features

• Local optimization

• Flexibility

• Quick business value

Principles of Agile Architecting

Architecture as a stream of decisions

Let economic impact determine your focus

Use just enough anticipation

Architecture is teamwork

Traditional architect involvement

7

Solution Delivery

Architecture Department

Architecture GuidanceCheck

points

Agile team perception of architect involvement

BUFD MYOBMYOB

Decisions are your main deliverable

Focus on Architectural Decisions is key to lowering cost of change

• Convey change

• Convey implications

• Convey rationale & options

• Ease of traceability

• Deal with change

• Shorter feedback loop

The Architect’s Daily Job

SolutionArchitect

Architecting Microcycle

Identify & prioritize

architectural concerns

Research possible solutions

Decide best fitting

solution

•What problems should I work on?

•What are my options?

•I’ll pick this one

The Architecting Microcycle




Decide best fitting

solution




Decide best fitting

solution

The Architecting Workflow

Architectural concerns

(backlog)Architectural

decisions

Architecture

Big Up-Front Design

Continuous stream of

Architectural Decisions

Continuous stream of architectural decisions

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Traditional Agile

Development

Big Bang

Continuous stream of

improvements

What is architecture about?

“Fundamental concepts or properties of a

system in its environment embodied in its

elements, relationships, and in the principles

of its design and evolution”.

[ISO/IEEE]

“Architecture is about the important stuff.

Whatever that is.”

[Fowler]

After talking to architects and stakeholders on dozens of projects, we

have come to equate the “important stuff” with the stuff that has most

impact on risk and costs.

Important → high risk and cost

Architecture as a

Risk- and Cost Management Discipline

Managing Cost and Risks is architecture’s primary business goal

Cost and Risks are prioritizing factors determining architect’s concerns

Architect should be an expert on costing and risk mitigation

Architecture as a risk mitigation mechanism

• Reduce uncertainty in feasibility of solution

• Reduce troubled projects

Architecture as a cost control mechanism

• Better predictability of solution cost

• Less budget overrun

Risk and Cost over Time

How architecture fulfills its primary goal

tCone of uncertainty

http://www.construx.com/Thought_Leadership/Books/The_Cone_of_Uncertainty/

Cone is narrowed by:

• Research

• Decision making

Architecture narrows the

cone by researching

strategies to architectural

concerns and making

architectural decisions.

RCDA: Risk and Cost Driven Architecture

• Applicable in agile and traditional engagements

• Highly scalable and pragmatic

• Architectural decision making based on economic trade-offs

• Architecture communication in economic terms

• Traceability from requirements to cost

Solution architecting principles and practices based on a view of

architecture as a risk and cost management discipline

Architecture should be minimal

Avoid trap of “architecting everything”

• Architectures are hard to change

• Big architectures obstruct agility

• Give designers/developers as much freedom as they can handle

• Give yourself chance to keep total overview

• Three factors determine optimal amount of up-front design:

Business criticality + Size - Volatility

Just Enough Anticipation

Flow of architectural decisions ahead of development

Metaphor: Runway extended while in operation

• Just long enough to accomodate anticipated airplanes

Key tools to determine right amount of anticipation:

• Dependency analysis

• Technical debt control

• Economic trade-off: Net Present Value, Real Options Analysis

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09 27

Balance your backlog

Architecture and other solution improvements

21 Philippe Kruchten

New features

Added

functionality

Architectural,

Structural

features

Defects Technical

Debt

Visible Invisible

Positive

Value

Negative

Value

Direct business valueIndirect business value

“Enablers”

SCRUM and the Architecture Microcycle

22

Sprint

Daily

Solution

Increment

Solution Backlog Sprint

Backlog

Architectural concernsArchitectural decisions

SCRUM and the Architecture Microcycle

23

Sprint

Daily

Solution

Increment

Solution Backlog Sprint

Backlog

Architectural

concerns

Architectural

decisions

Architecture

Microcycle

Architecture

Runway

Technical

Debt

User

Features

Defects

Stakeholders

Architecture Roadmapping

Planning with Just Enough Anticipation

Assign solution improvement items to releases based on

• Dependency analysis

• Real option value

• Technical debt control

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Rel 1.3 Rel 2.0 Rel 2.1 Rel 2.2 Rel 2.3WebLogic

License

Expires

New

Reporting

Regulations

Competitor

Releases

NextGen

Reserve capacity

for agility


Release strategy 1: value-first

• In line with Agile philosophy

• May increase TCO (more refactoring)

• Too “greedy” algorithm may run project into wall (complete rebuild)

• Good in volatile environments

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Start Rel 1.0 Rel 1.1 Rel 1.2 Rel 2.0


Release strategy 2: architecture-first

• In line with plan-driven philosophy

• Late delivery of value → risk of cancellation

• Risk of building wrong architecture (if context changes)

• Good for complex solutions

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Start Rel 0.1 Rel 0.2 Rel 1.0 Rel 1.1


• “Emerge” does not imply “without thinking”, “for free” or “magically”.

• It does stimulate re-thinking ownership of architectural decisions.

28 Source: Stefan Toth

Classic architecture: broad standardization

Hard rules Left open

Responsibility: Architecture Responsibility: Developers

Evolutionary architecture: eventual integrity

Hard rules Left open

Responsibility: Architecture

Responsibility: Developers

Suggestions


Organizing across teams: architecture owners

A

Virtual

architecture

team owns

conceptual

integrity

Multidisciplinary feature teams touch all components

SMEs own components

No ‘named’

architect

Architecture

marshalls

Architecture

owner Classic architect


Levels of distributed architectural ownership

30 Source: Stefan Toth

=

a

b

c

Crowd-sourced Centralized

Project size

Different locations

Domain expertise

Architecture base

External dependencies

Familiarity, experience

Discipline

Organizational context

Product level

Domain level

Multi-level architecture co-ordination

Product stakeholders

Domain architectDomain

roadmap

Domain

architecture

Product architect

Product roadmap

Product architecture

Delivery

team

Standards

Guidance

Risk

Cost

Domain stakeholders

CGI has a Digital Strategy and Transformation Approach

focused on all three areas of transformation.

Implementing RCDA: part of Digital Transformation

When it comes to digital transformation, technology is only part of the answer.

Realizing the promise of digital requires transformation across three areas—organization,

business model and technology.

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Business

Model,

Operating

Model &

Process

Technology

Organization,

Culture, &

People

Change the game

• Optimize the customer experience

across all touch points

• Make decisions based on insights

• Increase innovation and

collaboration

• Create new market opportunities,

products and services

• Explore new business models

• Think outside-in, partner more

• Simplify

• Speed up and become agile

Leverage new technology

• Move to real time integrated operations

• Automate as much as possible

• Leverage new technology

• Take advantage of connectivity and cheaper

economics

Change organization

• Evaluate your leadership

• Revise structure

• Adjust appetite to risk

• Modernize the culture and

environment

• Enable the curious employees

• Make decisions based on

insights

• Encourage innovation and

collaboration

Creating the Agile Architecture balance

Awareness session

• Stakeholders hear about agile architecture principles

Agile Architecture Workshop

• Multidisciplinary team applies key agile architecture practices

Agile Architecture Maturity Assessment

• Measure baseline and progress towards the right balance

Reflection session

• Architects coach each other in applying practices

RCDA Practitioner Course

• In-depth architect training applying principles and practices

Tools & templates

• Improved documentation & communication for short feedback loop

Coaching & Change Management

• Helping the organization and its people transform their way of working

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90 minutes

1 day

3 days½ day

CIO Office Enterprise Architect K W R W R R A

Tools & templates K

Domain A Domain Architect K A W R R

Solution A1 Solution Architect K A R R

Team

Solution A2 Solution Architect K A W R R

Team

Solution A3 Solution Architect K A W R R

Team

Domain B Domain Architect K A W R R

Solution B1 Solution Architect K A R R

Team

Solution B2 Solution Architect K A W R R

Team

Solution B3 Solution Architect K A W R R

Team

Domain C Domain Architect K A W R

Solution C1 Solution Architect K A R

Team

Solution C2 Solution Architect K A W R

Team

Solution C3 Solution Architect K A W R

Team

…

Kick-off meeting with all architects creates awareness

and buy-in

Baseline assessments per domain point to improvement

actions

Overall assessment

confirms improvements and

benefits

Multi-disciplinary team workshops

apply agile architecture

practices in teams

Retrospective days help

architects coach each other and

clarify practices

Tools & templates gradually

improved to facilitate short-

cycle architecture

Agile Architecture Transformation Plan

RCDASolution Architecture for the Digital Age

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RCDA results:

• Agile solution shaping, quicker feedback loop

• More focus on economic reality

• Scalable architecting (smaller projects start quicker)

• Better risk and cost control in delivery

“"Strong architectural

decision making is key to

getting the most bang for the

buck. Applying RCDA helps

us maximize business value

in an agile environment,

while optimizing associated

cost and risks."

Rijn Buve, Group Chief

Architect, TomTom.

1200Architects

trained

19Proven practices

300Pages of guidance

14Peer-reviewed

publications

RCDA publications:

• Journal of Systems and Software

• IEEE Software Magazine (Sept. 2014, Nov. 2016)

• Leading architecture conferences: SATURN,

LAC, WICSA (best paper award)

• 2016 Linda Northrop Software Architecture Award

Open Grouprecognized in the

Certified Architect

program

Awardby Software

Engineering

Institute

Questions or Comments?

36Spare slides follow

RCDA Practices

Core Practices Supporting Practices

Requirements Analysis

Solution Shaping

Architecture Validation

Architecture Fulfillment

Architectural Requirements Prioritization

Architectural Decision Making

Architecture Evaluation

Stakeholder Workshop

Dealing with NFRs

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Architectural Prototyping

Supplier Evaluation

Requirements Convergence Plan

Architecture Implementation

Solution Shaping Workshop

Solution Costing

Architecture Documentation

Applying Architectural Strategies

Independent Architecture Assessment


Technical Debt Control

Architecture Evolution

“Solution” Architecture?

• RCDA covers all types of IT-based solutions

• software application

• system of systems

• BPO solution

• service solution

• systems integration

• embedded system

• software as a service

• changes to the above

• Highly scalable

• from 2-week architecture for short-deadline bids…

• …to 2-year architecture for long-term engagements

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Definition of Solution

Solution: a coherent set of changes delivered to meet a defined set of

stakeholder needs

• Changes: solution elements are created, modified or removed

• Delivered: coordination depends on governance model:

• agile or traditional

• portfolio, value stream, program or project

• contractual or otherwise

• Defined: depends on governance model:

• Epic / set of (user) stories

• Program / project definition

• Contract

• Change request

• …

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Architectural Decision Making

Timing of architectural decisionsCertainty of correct architectural decision depends on knowledge:

• relative cost of the alternative solutions

• value and impact on the business

• delivery times

Timing architectural decision is balancing risk, costand delivery time:

• too little information → risk of not meeting key requirements

• waiting too long → delays, wasted resources

Key architecture skills:

• timing of architectural decisions

• making decisions based on incomplete information

• dealing with the resulting risks

There's an art of knowing when.

Never try to guess.

Toast until it smokes and then

twenty seconds less.

- Pat Hein

t

RiskCost of delay

Cost + Risk

Decision

time

Applying RCDA core practices

Werken onder Architectuur

Architectural Requirements

Prioritization

Architectural Decision

Making

Architecture Evaluation

Solution Costing

Architecture Documentation

Applying Architectural

Strategies

PAD 0.1

(Outline)

Project Brief

PAD

1.0

PID

PAD

N.M

Faseplan/RFC

(PAD)

X.Y

LCM? SLA?

Startup Initiatie Realisatie (Onderhoud)

Technical Debt Control

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Agile Architecture Workshop

One-day workshop with multi-

disciplinary team.

• Proven way to get up to speed

with agile architecture.

• Foundation of agile architecture

principles and practices.

• Applying these practices to real-

life business epics from the

attendants’ own work context.

Attendants leave the workshop not

only with new skills and insights,

but with immediate business value

created on the spot.

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Agile Architecture Maturity Model

Understanding context

Architectural decisions

Validation

Fulfillment

Behaviors scored 1-5:

1 Never

2 Sometimes

3 Ad hoc/Individuals

4 Mostly

5 Habit

Effective stakeholder

communication

Context knowledge managed

Decisions as primary deliverable

Prioritized by economic impact

Justified and documented

Well-timed decisions

Decentral unless…

Fulfills stakeholder needs?

Architectural runway recognized

Architecture debt control

Just enough anticipation

Agile Architecture Maturity Assessment

11 simple behaviors are indicators whether the organization is finding the

balance between Agile and Architecture – and point to improvements

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Behavior Evidence Counterevidence

Architectural work is

prioritized by economic

impact.

In the architectural

workload, those concerns

and decisions that have

the highest risk and cost

impact on their collective

stakeholders are

considered first, and

receive the most attention.

Architecture work is based

on / prioritized by what is

mentioned in a

documentation template,

project plan or job

description.

Architectural decisions are

only made when

stakeholders ask for them.

Architectural decisions are

justified and documented

Architectural decisions,

including their status and

justification, are visible to

stakeholders.

Stakeholders only see the

effect of decisions after they

have been taken in a set of

views or models.

The criteria on which each

decision is based, and

their relation to specific

architectural drivers and

business goals, are visible

to stakeholders.

Justification for decisions is

not documented, or is mainly

based on generic principles

and not related to the

specific context.

Tools & Templates

Use tools stakeholders access daily

Example: JIRA

45

Tools & Templates

Example: Wiki

46

Let stakeholders know:

• What

• Why

• What happened

• What will happen

Drive stakeholder feedback

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Architecture

Microcycle

Architecture

Microcycle

Architecture

Microcycle

Architecture

Microcycle

SAFe: Lean Agile principles & RCDA

1. Take an economic view

2. Apply systems thinking

3. Assume variability; preserve options

4. Build incrementally; fast, integrated learning cycles

5. Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems

6. Limit WIP, reduce batches, manage queue length

7. Apply cadence, sync with cross-domain planning

8. Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers

9. Decentralize decision-making

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Risk- and Cost-Driven Architecture

The Solution is a System

Minimal Architecture

Architecture Microcycle


Just Enough Anticipation

Architectural Prototyping

Architecture is

Team Work

ReferencesAbrahamsson, P., Babar, M. A., & Kruchten, P. (2010, March/April). Agility and Architecture: Can They Coexist? IEEE Software.

Boehm, B. (2010). Architecting: How Much and When? In A. Oram, & G. Wilson, Making Software: What Really Works, and Why We Believe It . O'Reilly Media.

Brown, N., Nord, R. L., & Ozkaya, I. (2010, November/December). Enabling Agility Through Architecture. CrossTalk.

Fowler, M. (2003, July/August). Who Needs an Architect? IEEE Software, pp. 2-4.

Jansen, A., & Bosch, J. (2005). Software Architecture as a Set of Architectural Design Decisions. Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture.

Malan, R., & Bredemeyer, D. (2002, september/oktober). Less is More with Minimalist Architecture. IT Pro, pp. 46-48.

Poort, E. R., & van Vliet, H. (2012). RCDA: Architecting as a Risk- and Cost Management Discipline. Journal of Systems and Software, 1995-2013.

Poort, E. R. (2014, Sept/Oct). Driving Agile Architecting with Cost and Risk. IEEE Software.

Poort, E. R. (2016, Nov/Dec). Just Enough Anticipation: Architect your Time Dimension. IEEE Software.

Slot, R. (2010). A method for valuing architecture-based business transformation and measuring the value of solutions architecture. Amsterdam.

Toth, S. (2015). Vorgehensmuster für Softwarearchitektur: Kombinierbare Praktiken in Zeiten von Agile und Lean. Hanser Fachbuchverlag.

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agile architecting with rcda · 2018-12-30 · • scalable architecting (smaller projects start...

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