4 Guiding Principles to Implement Microservices Architecture

If you’re someone navigating the horizon of software development regularly, you’ve undoubtedly encountered the buzz around microservice architecture. In today’s day and age of software development, where agility, scalability, and flexibility rule the roost, microservices can be a real boon for software developers. Adopting microservices can be a game changer for enterprises as it helps you redefine the approach to building and maintaining business applications.

But here’s the catch. If you want to leverage the benefits mentioned above from your microservices, you must be aware of its guiding principles. The reason behind that is guiding principles are blueprints on which you can design and implement microservices with utmost precision. Each principle is a stepping stone towards your success as an enterprise.

So, fasten your seatbelts and get ready to ride on a roller coaster in the microservices universe as we explore each guiding principle to implement microservices architecture with an analogy or real-time example. These principles will illuminate your path toward a resilient and modernized software architecture.

4 guiding principles to implement a microservices architecture

1. Follow Conway’s law when structuring your application

When designing microservices for your business application, following Conway’s law is advisable, as it helps you create an appropriate structure for your application. Conway’s law tells you that the company’s structure directly influences the design and architecture of its software systems. Therefore, your microservice architecture should align with your team’s communication pattern. It will allow you to maximize the potential of your microservices.

Take the example of Netflix, which embraced Conway’s law by organizing its development teams around various business capabilities. So, now, each team focuses on a specific domain, such as recommendation algorithms, user authentication, or content delivery. This approach allowed the various teams to independently develop, deploy, and scale their microservices, promoting autonomy and rapid innovation. By following Conway’s law, Netflix ensured it could quickly react to the market’s changing demands, continuously improve features, and maintain a resilient and scalable streaming platform.

2. Avoid ending up with accidental monoliths

While developing microservices, you must avoid creating accidental monoliths. By this, we mean that you should prevent the unintentional development of complex, tightly coupled systems that take away the advantage of being the microservices ecosystem.

Let’s understand this with an example of Etsy, a famous eCommerce company. Etsy prioritized modular design and autonomy in their engineering teams to prevent accidental monoliths. They broke the system into small independent services, each responsible for specific business capabilities. It allowed Etsy to avoid any unintentional monoliths that might have developed in this complex eCommerce ecosystem.

For instance, they had dedicated services for inventory management, order processing, and user authentication. By introducing API agreements and clear communication protocols, Etsy ensured that each microservice could be independent, improving agility and scalability. It also allowed Etsy to adapt quickly to changing business needs.

3. Refactor your monolithic application with service objects

This principle tells you to break down a large, tightly coupled system into smaller, independent services that communicate with each other. By employing service objects, you can encapsulate specific functionalities and deploy them as standalone microservices. It promotes modularity, scalability, and easier maintenance.

An example of this principle is evident in Uber’s architecture evolution. Initially, Uber operated as a monolithic application, handling functions like ride booking, payment processing, and driver management within a single codebase. Recognizing the challenges of scalability and agility posed by the monolith, Uber gradually transitioned towards a microservices architecture.

In this transformation, Uber adopted service objects for distinct business functionalities. For instance, ride dispatching, payment processing, and user management became independent microservices. This modular approach empowered Uber to enhance specific services, ensuring faster development cycles, better fault isolation, and improved scalability.

4. Design smart endpoints and dumb pipes

This approach advocates placing the intelligence and business logic in the endpoints (services) rather than relying on the communication infrastructure (pipes) to manage complex operations. Consider Instagram’s architecture transformation. Initially, Instagram operated on a monolithic structure with a tight coupling of all features and functionalities. However, they transitioned to a microservices architecture with smart endpoints.

Each microservice in Instagram’s architecture is a smart endpoint for specific functionalities such as user management, photo uploads, or content discovery. On the other hand, the communication between these microservices gets facilitated by dumb pipes — simple, reliable, and standardized protocols like HTTP or message queues. It ensures that the communication layer remains lightweight and focused solely on transmitting data.

By embracing smart endpoints and dumb pipes, Instagram achieves a more modular and scalable architecture. Each microservice acts as an independent, intelligent entity, enabling rapid development, easier maintenance, and efficient scaling to meet the demands of its vast and diverse user base. This architectural shift allows Instagram to adapt quickly to changing market trends and deliver a seamless user experience.

Wrapping up

You’ve now grasped the essential principles to integrate microservices architecture into your system seamlessly. By prioritizing modularity, autonomy, resilience, and observability, you pave the way for a more agile and scalable infrastructure.

As you embark on this journey, remember to foster a culture of collaboration among your teams, ensuring a smooth transition to microservices. With these guiding principles at the forefront of your strategy, you’re well-equipped to harness the benefits of flexibility and efficiency in your application development. Embrace the microservices mindset, and watch your architecture evolve into a robust, adaptable foundation for future growth and innovation.