My experience in the world of hexagonal architecture and Domain Driven Design

Today, I will share my experience in the world of hexagonal architecture and Domain Driven Design (DDD), facing challenges throughout my journey as a software developer and entrepreneur.

About 10 years ago, I started my own software company with the goal of creating a cloud-based enterprise management system to serve medium-sized clients. At the time, most enterprise management software ran on desktops and was mostly developed in Delphi, being primarily compiled for Windows.

With the growing popularity of cloud computing, I decided to innovate with my team, creating software that would work through web browsers, offering greater freedom for users regarding their operating system. This attracted many clients interested in exploring this new approach.

However, over the years, my business faced challenges related to constant innovation and rapid technology evolution. The coupling between business changes and technological innovations, such as new frameworks, programming languages, and cloud services, brought difficulties in maintaining and evolving the software.

That’s when I realized the importance of applying concepts like hexagonal architecture and DDD, which help to avoid excessive coupling and ensure the long-term sustainability of the software. These concepts are not limited to software development but are also applied by solution architects and business architecture specialists to define bounded contexts and domain scopes.

As our software grew, we began to serve additional segments, adding new modules and features. However, the technology layer was so intertwined with business rules that we couldn’t keep up with changes and innovations in the market. The result was that we couldn’t adapt the software to new technologies, like React, Angular, or migrate to a microservices architecture without completely refactoring our solution.

This experience taught us that it is crucial to decouple technology layers from business rules, allowing the application to evolve and adapt to market changes.

It is essential to invest in planning and software architecture, considering scalability, maintenance, and the evolution of business rules and technology from the outset. Also, it is crucial to keep up with market trends and technological innovations to ensure your software remains competitive and relevant. Therefore, when developing new software, make sure the architecture is flexible, scalable, and able to adapt to changes in the market and technology.

For this, Domain Driven Design (DDD) is an excellent tool. This approach focuses on modeling the business domain, using concepts such as entities, aggregates, repositories, domain services, and domain events. These concepts help organize and structure your application’s code, making it easier to understand, maintain, and evolve.

Combining these concepts with hexagonal architecture, you can create software systems that are flexible, easy to maintain, and evolve alongside business needs.

This approach allows you to focus on business rules and application logic without worrying about infrastructure and technology details. This way, you can ensure your application is designed to be constantly refactored and evolve as the business grows and changes.

This will enable your company to grow and remain competitive. By applying hexagonal architecture and Domain Driven Design, you will invest in the future of your software and, consequently, your business.

In summary, the lesson I learned from my professional experience in building software is that it is crucial to plan and structure our solutions from the beginning, considering scalability, maintainability, and the evolution of business rules and technology. Keeping up with market trends and technological innovations is also essential to ensure your software remains competitive and relevant.

Cite this article

You can cite this article in your academic work.

@article{rodrigues2023ddd,
  title={My experience in the world of hexagonal architecture and Domain Driven Design},
  author={Rodrigues, Thiago Luiz},
  journal={URL https://rodriguesthiago.me/posts/my_experience_hexagonal_architecture_domain_driven_design/},
  year={2023}
}