Fundamentals of Software Architecture

An Engineering Approach

By: Mark Richards, Neal Ford

Narrated by: Benjamin Lange

Salary surveys worldwide regularly place software architect in the top 10 best jobs, yet no real guide exists to help developers become architects. Until now. This book provides the first comprehensive overview of software architecture’s many aspects. Aspiring and existing architects alike will examine architectural characteristics, architectural patterns, component determination, diagramming and presenting architecture, evolutionary architecture, and many other topics.

Mark Richards and Neal Ford—hands-on practitioners who have taught software architecture classes professionally for years—focus on architecture principles that apply across all technology stacks. You’ll explore software architecture in a modern light, taking into account all the innovations of the past decade.

This book examines:

• Architecture patterns: the technical basis for many architectural decisions
• Components: identification, coupling, cohesion, partitioning, and granularity
• Soft skills: effective team management, meetings, negotiation, presentations, and more
• Modernity: engineering practices and operational approaches that have changed radically in the past few years
• Architecture as an engineering discipline: repeatable results, metrics, and concrete valuations that add rigor to software architecture

©2020 Mark Richards and Neal Ford (P)2021 Upfront Books

the narration is a masterpiece

We all know how awesome Neal and Mark are, but I want to emphasize the amazing job of Benjamin Lange of paraphrasing the pictures to make them suitable for an audio book, something that only him and Theodore O'Brian do as opposed to most narrators who just read what is written without caring if it makes sense to the listener: "Figure x shows an example of that. " :)

Excellent foundational book

Excellent foundational architecture book. Goes through many different architectures and gives you the tools for weighing the pros and cons. They also do a good job of modifying the book to be consumable in audio format.

My only complaint is that it doesn't go through enough scenarios (katas) and instead spends time talking about things such as: how to create an effective powerpoint presentation and checklists where a lot of what was listed can be handled with CI. The beginning is also very academic and not super helpful. I'm not still clear on the nuanced difference between Connascence and Coupling and I'm not sure that it matters.

The meat of the book is in the middle and the meat is very good.

Clear narrator

I liked the affirmation that I was to understand the book without the need for diagrams, even though the physical book has them. Maybe I would have but I would do stuff while listening. Will re-listen and adjust my rating if it delivers a little more on that. Of course I understand I won't get the same comprehension as sitting down and reading the book.

Loved it

Not relevant to my current position but as a person who spend 5 years in IT I found it very interesting.

Paying it forward

Thank you for this book that helps in the different technical, soft skills and leadership tips. It is essentially a pay it forward book that I will recommend to my teams.

A good book to start in Software Architecture

I started this audiobook to try to learn technical stuff from audiobooks. At first it was a bit difficult because I didn't know several of the key concepts. After I understood the vocabulary presented in the book, listening became easier. I think it is an excellent book to start learning Software Architecture and I definitely saved many hours listening to the book instead of reading it.

A surprisingly good listen

I was not expecting a software book to turnout to be a really good audiobook, but considering that software architecture is more about concepts than specifics, this worked really well. I do wish they shared a PDF of some portions of the book, though, as I'll have to go back and take notes for some sections.

Good book, required replaying for comprehension

I hadn’t consumed a technical book in this format before: it took some getting used to. The content was very well organized

Can't say it's useful. Maybe I just don't get it.

There is slight comparison of different architecture methods, some suggestions about "be a leader not a boss".
I have no regrets of listening it. Just don't expect too much.

software architecture best practices

general rules and guideline for a software architect and a developer on its way to become an architect