Architecture and Production Readiness Reviews in Practice

TL;DR

This paper details the procedures for architecture and production readiness reviews in software development, emphasizing their importance in deploying complex solutions and sharing practical insights from Wolters Kluwer's experience.

Contribution

It introduces a structured two-phase review process linking architecture evaluation with production deployment readiness, including automation and flaw mitigation strategies.

Findings

Established a typical architecture review process.

Implemented a two-phase production readiness review.

Reduced technical flaws through structured reviews.

Abstract

Detailed description of procedures around architecture reviews. In order to succeed in building and deploying complex software solutions, an architecture is essential. For many in the industry structured reviews of these architectures is also de rigor. Practices for such reviews have been developed and reported on for years. One aspect that does not receive as much attention but is no less important is the relationship between these architectures and the requirements for deploying them into production environments. At Wolters Kluwer's Corporate Legal Services we first established a typical architecture review process and then established a two phase production preparation review process. This paper describes in detail how these practices work and some of the technical results of these reviews including the frequency and style of the reviews, the process automation around them, and the number and nature of some of the technical flaws eliminated by enforcing these reviews. This paper lays the ground work for others who would be interested in following similar practices.