This video is well worth the watch, as it summarizes what quality attributes are frequently overlooked.
1. Feasibility
Feasibility refers to whether a proposed architectural solution is practical given time, budget, and team constraints. It’s not just about whether something can be built, but whether it should be built given the available resources and team expertise.
- Why It’s Overlooked: Architects often focus on the ideal technical solution without considering real-world limitations.
- Why It’s Important: Ignoring feasibility can lead to over-engineered solutions, missed deadlines, and frustrated teams.
2. Observability
Observability is about how well we can understand and measure the behavior of a system through logs, metrics, and traces. It enables teams to monitor system health, detect issues, and improve performance.
- Why It’s Overlooked: It’s often treated as an afterthought, bolted on at the end of development.
- Why It’s Important: Without observability, it’s difficult to know if changes are improving or degrading the system.
3. Agility
Agility focuses on a system’s ability to adapt to changes quickly. This includes characteristics like maintainability, testability, deployability, and evolvability.
- Why It’s Overlooked: Many architects prioritize stability and scalability over flexibility.
- Why It’s Important: Modern businesses require rapid delivery of new features and updates, and agility directly supports time-to-market goals.
4. Modularity
Modularity refers to designing systems as smaller, independent components or modules. While often associated with microservices, modularity can also exist in monolithic architectures (e.g., modular monoliths or microkernel patterns).
- Why It’s Overlooked: Architects sometimes view modularity as exclusive to distributed architectures.
- Why It’s Important: Modularity improves scalability, maintainability, and flexibility, regardless of architecture style.
