Decentralizing the Practice of Architecture at Xapo Bank

Article: https://martinfowler.com/articles/xapo-architecture-experience.html

Notes

• Company had horizontal teams, separating architects from engineers.

• This caused big number of handoffs and slow/broken feedback loops.

• They changed the org structure to vertical teams aligned with the core products.

• They implemented few processes targeting faster decision making and broader knowledge sharing. Namely:

  • Architecture Decision Records (ADR).

  • Domain-Driven Design (DDD).

  • Architecture Advisory Forum (AAF) and Architectural Advice Process (AAP).

• They used ticket tracker (Jira) to host ADRs and measure their progress through statuses: drafted, proposed, accepted, and adopted.

• ADRs linked to development stories and tasks.

• They allowed decisions to be taken without consensus.

• They provided a safe environment to make mistakes and re-evaluate past decisions.

Links to follow:

• Scaling the Practice of Architecture, Conversationally (My notes)

• How to use spikes as a foundation for ADRs (My notes)