How does this help me build maintainable software?
If you have built layered architectures in the past, you can probably relate to some of the issues discussed in this chapter, and you could maybe even add some more.
If done correctly, and if some additional rules are imposed on it, a layered architecture can be very maintainable and can make changing or adding to the code base a breeze.
However, the discussion shows that a layered architecture allows many things to go wrong. Without good self-discipline, it’s prone to degrading and becoming less maintainable over time. And our self-discipline usually takes a hit each time a team member rotates into or out of the team, or a manager draws a new deadline around the development team.
Keeping the traps of layered architecture in mind will help us the next time we argue against taking a shortcut and for building a more maintainable solution instead – be it in a layered architecture or a different architecture style.
