Brief: Software Innovation Requires A Loosely-Coupled Application Architecture

Amazon.com and its web-native cousins are the envy of many traditional organizations feeling pressure from competitors that innovate more rapidly. What's the critical enabler for rapid software releases? They require loose coupling of components and services, both within and between applications. While rapid prototyping, visualization, and Agile software development practices can help, without loose coupling of fine-grained services, the sustained customer-visible innovation that emerges from rapid application delivery remains elusive. This brief summarizes the trap that many organizations find themselves in — tightly coupled application architectures and accompanying complex processes — and identifies the principles of and first steps toward loosely-coupled application architectures.