Foundations of Solution Architecture

About this course

The entry point to the architecture track, for senior engineers stepping into architecture and for working architects who want a rigorous foundation. Learners turn business goals and constraints into architecturally significant requirements and measurable quality-attribute scenarios, choose styles and boundaries deliberately, document systems with C4 and ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 viewpoints, record decisions in ADRs, size designs with back-of-the-envelope numbers and cost models, and defend their choices in a live architecture review.

For: software engineer, data professional, architect, tech leader.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion you will be able to:

1. 1Explain the role, responsibilities and deliverables of a solution architect, and how architecture relates to requirements, constraints and quality attributes.
2. 2Analyse business goals, requirements and constraints to identify architecturally significant requirements and express them as measurable quality-attribute scenarios.
3. 3Apply architecture styles, patterns and domain-driven boundaries (layered, hexagonal, modular monolith, microservices, event-driven, serverless) to a problem and justify the choice.
4. 4Document an architecture with C4 views and ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 viewpoints, and record significant decisions in architecture decision records.
5. 5Evaluate competing designs with structured trade-off analysis (utility trees, sensitivity and trade-off points, risks), supported by order-of-magnitude capacity and cost estimates.
6. 6Communicate and defend architectural decisions to engineers and business stakeholders, incorporate review feedback and take ownership of each decision's consequences.

Modules and lessons

1. Week 1The architect's role and the drivers of architecture⌄

   • What architecture is, and what architects actually do
   • From requirements to architectural drivers
2. Week 2Quality attributes and trade-offs⌄

   • Quality attributes and quality-attribute scenarioscase study
   • Prioritising with utility trees and ATAMlab
3. Week 3Structure, modularity and styles⌄

   • Modularity, coupling and cohesioncase study
   • Architecture styles and when to use them
4. Week 4Boundaries and decomposition⌄

   • Finding boundaries with domain-driven design
   • Monolith or microservices: the real trade-offscase study
5. Week 5Documenting architecture⌄

   • Views and viewpoints: C4 and ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010lab
   • Architecture decision recordslab
6. Week 6Making decisions⌄

   • Structured trade-off analysis
   • Technology selection and technical constraints
7. Week 7Numbers that shape designs⌄

   • Back-of-the-envelope estimationlab
   • Cost-aware architecture
8. Week 8Communication and reviews⌄

   • Communicating architecture to every audience
   • Architecture reviews and the architect's accountabilitycase study

Assessment

• Quiz (15%)

  Eight weekly quizzes drawn from the lesson quiz banks; best seven count.

• Design review (35%)

  Architecture document for a provided case - quality-attribute scenarios, C4 context, container and deployment views, and three ADRs.

• Case analysis (25%)

  Written trade-off analysis of a published industry case using a utility tree, sensitivity and risk points, and a capacity and cost estimate.

• Viva (25%)

  Twenty-minute review defence of the design document before two mentors acting as engineering lead and business sponsor.

Pass mark 60%. Grades: Distinction, Merit, Pass.