Interview with Rebecca Parsons at GOTO Chicago 2015
Interview with Rebecca Parsons at GOTO Chicago 2015
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
The Guest
Rebecca Parsons
Chief Technology Officer at Thoughtworks, Author of Evolutionary Architecture
The Conversation
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
Hi, it's Mike Hall. I'm sitting here with Rebecca Parsons from Thoughtworks at GOTO Chicago. Rebecca, you've been a mainstay in the tech scene for a long time. You've co-authored 'Evolutionary Architecture' and 'Building Evolutionary Architectures'. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do?
Rebecca Parsons
Chief Technology Officer at Thoughtworks, Author of Evolutionary Architecture
Thanks, Mike. As CTO of Thoughtworks, I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can help our clients build systems that are not just robust, but capable of changing as their business changes. We focus on evolutionary architecture, which means designing systems that can evolve over time rather than being 'perfect' and static from day one.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
One of the things I think is fascinating is the idea of 'fitness functions' in architecture. Can you explain that?
Rebecca Parsons
Chief Technology Officer at Thoughtworks, Author of Evolutionary Architecture
Think of it like evolution. If you want a system to maintain certain properties—like performance, security, or maintainability—you need a way to measure them automatically. An architectural fitness function is an automated measurement that guides the evolution of your system. It tells you if a new change is making your architecture more or less fit for its intended purpose.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
It sounds like you're taking the TDD or testing mindset and applying it at the architectural level.
Rebecca Parsons
Chief Technology Officer at Thoughtworks, Author of Evolutionary Architecture
Exactly. It's about moving from 'I think this is a good design' to 'I have quantitative evidence that this architecture is evolving in the right direction'.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, community organizer at UGtastic
Thank you for the insights, Rebecca.
Rebecca Parsons
Chief Technology Officer at Thoughtworks, Author of Evolutionary Architecture
My pleasure.
Critical Insights
durable
"Architectural Fitness Functions enable quantitative measurement of non-functional requirements, guiding the evolution of software systems instead of relying on subjective 'good design' intuition."
durable
"Evolutionary Architecture shifts the goal from building a 'perfect' system to designing a system that is robust enough to change alongside the business it supports."