What can a rogue fighter pilot from the 1960's teach us about software architecture? Quite a lot, as it turns out. In 1964, John Boyd introduced "energy-maneuverability" theory. It showed that the fastest airplane didn't always win the dogfight. Rather, the one that could accelerate or decelerate fastest would win.

Software architecture today is about gaining and shedding mass rapidly. One must scale up and scale down, and be able to adapt quickly to changing situations. Sadly, enterprise integration destroys maneuverability more often than it helps.

As architects, we can change the way we integrate systems to produce maneuverability, via some different techniques and patterns. Some of these techniques may appear to contradict past notions of sound architecture. Our industry evolves rapidly, however, and last year’s sound practice might just be drag this year.