When two-pizza teams plan a banquet: Lightweight architecture governance

There are two common architectural failure modes: hierarchical command and control from ivory-tower architects with strict approvals and rigorous control gates, and chaos with every team doing what they want with little governance. Jonny LeRoy explores the Goldilocks zone that ensures that teams handle organizational risks and opportunities while giving themselves as much autonomy as possible.

Organizations are shifting from centralized control and planning to adaptive approaches focusing on time to market, delegated autonomy, and freedom to experiment. In this new world of two-pizza teams organized around microservices, there are two common failure modes: the first is hierarchical command and control from ivory-tower architects with strict lists of approved tools and rigorous control gates for design reviews at various stages; at the opposite end of the spectrum is chaos with every team doing whatever they want and close to zero governance. Jonny LeRoy explores the Goldilocks zone that makes sure organizational risks and opportunities are handled while still giving teams as much autonomy as possible within those constraints. He draws on ThoughtWorks’s recent client experience to delve into some of the strategies and approaches for creating the Goldilocks zone of lightweight governance: automating compliance, focusing on vision, principles and constraints, enrolling gatekeepers as collaborators, paved roads and the pit of success, tech radar as a lightweight governance tool, and ADRs for visibility. He also touches on how to help architects become comfortable with evolution, the org design implications, how to be responsive to skill levels on teams, and how to think about innovation zones.