Sundblad Software - 9 Step Formula for Software Design Excellence

Align the structure of your products to the structure of the business

Any successful product must be able to change when the business activity it supports changes. And changing it must be easy, fast and secure. How can you achieve that?

The answer: Align its structure to the structure of these activities. But how?

Business structure

Work with business stakeholders to gain understanding of the business structure.

Clone it in your product backlog as Epics, Features, and User Stories.

External design

Make each major component (microservices, Azure Functions and more) align to one single business activity or coherent group of activities.

Internal design

Design technical components to implement the external business-aligned view.

The result: a sustainable product that meets requirements of today and is easily adaptable to those of tomorrow.

Now the only reason to change any of these components is that the activity it’s aligned to needs the change. And there will be no competing consumers. The changes will be easy, fast and secure to make.

YOUR ENTIRE PRODUCT IS NOW SUSTAINABLE!

In agile development teams, there’s not so much talk about software architecture. Perhaps that’s inspired by Martin Fowler’s statements. “I really don’t like the term software architecture” and “I tend to use design instead”. For self-organizing and cross-functional development teams, this is a good idea. But it’s just as good an idea to split design into two parts:

The formula is only for external software design. It’s for setting up a sustainable contract between the paying customer and the Dev Team.

THE DEV TEAM IS 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR BOTH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SOFTWARE DESIGN

Video

Short introduction to the formula, extracted from the online video course 9 steps for software design success

Play video (8:41)

More information

Interesting in some more details about the formula? Use the resources below. Each page describes one specific aspect of the 9 Step Formula for Software Design Excellence.

External vs. internal software design

Describes the difference between external and internal design. Also the important reasons for keeping them apart.

Two major formula parts

Describes the two major parts of the formula. How the first part is a foundation and fundamental for the second part.

Agile work item structure

Describes the difference between external and internal design. Also the important reasons for keeping them apart.

The formula’s requirement analysis steps

The formula steps for requirement analysis. Defining backlog work items. Giving them a business structure and made into a business foundation for external design.

The formula’s software design steps

The formula steps for external software design. Includes microservices, UI applications, UI forms, Azure Function Apps and Azure Functions.

Agility and iterativity

Describes how the formula builds on agile principles. How it supports short iterations, based on new knowledge. And long iterations, based on priority.

Other resources

Q.Is the 9 step formula really free?

A.Yes, the 9 step formula is absolutely free. There are NO hidden costs whatsoever, and we have several resources for you so you can feel safe to start using it.

Q.When can I start to use it?

A.Immediately. Sign up below and grab your User Guide, then you can start within minutes to use the 9 step formula.

Q.What is the most important benefit of using the 9 Step Formula?

A.Its most important benefit is that it results in more sustainable software products. Products which meet business requirements from the day it shipped. Products that are easily and quickly to adapt to future changes to these requirements.

Q.Are there any other benefits?

A.It helps the team structure its work so that design decisions are easier to take. It also helps the team improve its collaboration with business stakeholders, which results in a better foundation for these decisions.

Q.Will the formula revolutionize the way the team works?

A.No, it will not. It will only help the team get a better structure to activities it needs to take even without the formula.

Q.Will using the formula have any effect outside of the team?

A.No, it won’t. It only involves the team and its activities. Its only ouside effect is improved collaboration with stakeholders and a better product that is shipped faster.

Q.How can I learn to use the formula as well as possible?

A.There are two learning resources. The first is the free User Guide which gives detailed suggestions about how to use the formula and each of its 9 steps. The second is an online video course, based around the formula, available at Teachable.com.

Q.Do you offer any kind of support for the 9 step formula?

A.Absolutely. We offer online support at a fixed price for each case. We always return quickly with answers. If it takes more that 48 hours the support case will be free of charge.

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