Chief Scientist, Thoughtworks
Martin Fowler
Fowler has shaped how the industry talks about refactoring, enterprise patterns, microservices, and evolutionary design. His essays turn hard-won practice into names everyone can use.
- Essential reading
- Refactoring
- Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture
- martinfowler.com
- Models in this guide
- 11
- No. 017Systems & Structure
Bounded Context
A model is only valid inside an explicit boundary; the same word can mean different things in different contexts.
- No. 034Trade-offs & Economics
Technical Debt as Interest
Shortcuts are loans: they buy speed today and charge interest on every future change.
- No. 052Change & Evolution
Strangler Fig
Replace a legacy system gradually by growing the new one around it until the old one can be removed.
- No. 062People, Org & Influence
Inverse Conway Maneuver
Shape your teams to match the architecture you want, and the system will follow.
- No. 083Strategy & Enterprise
Build, Buy, or Partner
Choose the sourcing model by differentiation, market maturity, and your ability to operate it.
- No. 116From the Masters
Architecture Is About the Important Stuff
Architecture is the set of decisions that are hard to change, whatever those turn out to be.
- No. 117From the Masters
Monolith First
Start with a well-structured monolith; split into services only once the boundaries and the need are proven.
- No. 118From the Masters
Microservice Premium
Microservices carry a fixed overhead that only pays off above a certain level of complexity.
- No. 119From the Masters
Sacrificial Architecture
Design knowing you may throw the system away, and treat that as a sign of success.
- No. 120From the Masters
Design Stamina Hypothesis
Good internal design slows you briefly; past the payoff line it is what keeps you fast.
- No. 121From the Masters
Technical Debt Quadrant
Classify debt as deliberate or inadvertent, and prudent or reckless; each needs a different response.