Microservice Architecture

Chapter 2. The Microservices Value Proposition

The microservice architectural style was defined based on common patterns observed across a number of pioneering organizations. These organizations did not consciously implement a microservice architecture. They evolved to it in pursuit of specific goals.

In this chapter, we will explore the common benefits of microservice architecture and how they drive the higher-order goals from Chapter 1—speed, safety, and scale; illustrate how the goals of microservice architecture deliver business value; define a maturity model for microservice architecture benefits and goals; and finally, apply this information using a goal-oriented approach to microservice architecture.

To start with, let’s survey the motivations of some early microservice adopters.

Microservice Architecture Benefits

Why are organizations adopting microservices? What are the motivations and challenges? How can the leaders of these organizations tell that taking on the challenges of managing a collection of small, loosely coupled, independently deployable services is actually paying off for the company? What is the measure of success? Surveying the early adopters of microservices, we find that the answers to these questions vary quite a bit. However, some common themes emerge and tie back to the mantra of “balancing speed and safety at scale.”

Werner Vogels of Amazon describes the advantages of their architecture as follows:

We can scale our operation independently, maintain ...