Overview

Today, businesses and software developers must rapidly innovate and compete while maintaining order and balance with software architecture. This course teaches you to think and make decisions like a CTO and Chief Architect. Learn to identify core purpose, and then make informed decisions about architecture, programming languages, patterns, and tools to support that purpose. You will learn about innovative thinking and how design and implementation can align with strategic business goals. You will explore how to use EventStorming, Impact Mapping, Domain-Driven Design, and Event-Driven Architecture, and to deploy right-sized services. Whether the best choice is a monolithic architecture, microservices, or a hybrid, you will learn to identify what helps you and your team deliver what the business demands: success with strategic software.

Syllabus

Course Introduction
Transformational Strategic Learning Through Experimentation

This module explores the foundations of strategic software innovation and digital transformation. It covers aligning business goals with effective architecture, understanding the impact of monoliths and microservices, and fostering agility. Learners are introduced to essential decision-making tools, emphasizing organizational culture and purposeful architecture. The module culminates with events-first experimentation using EventStorming, teaching collaborative modeling to bridge communication gaps, accelerate learning, and drive business-aligned software solutions.

Driving Business Innovation

This module introduces domain-driven design concepts and tactical modeling tools essential for strategic software development. It covers the definition and use of domains, subdomains, bounded contexts, ubiquitous language, and core domains. Learners explore context mapping, topography architecture modeling, and practical approaches to success and failure. The module also presents entities, value objects, aggregates, domain events, and services, including functional modeling techniques, empowering developers to build innovative, context-aware business solutions.

Events-First Architecture

This module explores foundational and advanced software architecture concepts. It introduces key architectural styles and patterns, such as ports and adapters, and examines decision drivers and quality attributes like security, privacy, performance, and scalability. Building on these fundamentals, the module delves into message and event-driven architectures, including REST-based services, process management (choreography and orchestration), event sourcing, CQRS, and the role of serverless and Function as a Service. Together, these lessons provide a comprehensive understanding of designing scalable, modern systems using versatile and widely applicable architectural approaches.

The Two Paths for Purposeful Architecture

This module explores the evolution of software architecture, starting with lessons from legacy monoliths and their shortcomings, then guiding learners through the transition to microservices and distributed systems. It emphasizes strategic innovation, balancing quality attributes, and making informed architectural choices. The module concludes by advocating for unbiased, purpose-driven approaches, encouraging the use of both monoliths and microservices to achieve lasting business value.