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.\n\nMark 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.\n\nThis book examines:\n\nArchitecture patterns: The technical basis for many architectural decisions\nComponents: Identification, coupling, cohesion, partitioning, and granularity\nSoft skills: Effective team management, meetings, negotiation, presentations, and more\nModernity: Engineering practices and operational approaches that have changed radically in the past few years\nArchitecture as an engineering discipline: Repeatable results, metrics, and concrete valuations that add rigor to software architecture