Software developers continuously test their source code using unit and functional tests to ensure the code works properly and contains no defects. But how does one test a software architecture? It turns out that testing a software architecture is just as important as testing your source code. In this session Mark Richards talks about what it means to test a software architecture. Mark starts out the session by discussing what things to test to ensure the architecture is structurally sound and that its meeting the designated goals of the business. He then shows how to construct various unit tests for software architecture using custom techniques as well as through common open source tools. 

Microservices has been around for over a decade now. Over the years we’ve learned a lot, and have developed new practices, processes, techniques, and tools to wrangle this highly complicated architecture style. In this informative and entertaining session Mark Richards discusses some of the lessons learned over the years, and talks about some of today's current techniques, tips, and practices to help maneuver around the complexity surrounding microservices. 

Key Takeaways:

• Not every portion of an application has to be microservices
• “Microservices is dead, long live microservices!” Hybrid architectures now rule.
• The best way to kill a microservices architecture is with a large dose of semantic coupling
• In the end, it’s all about data