Choosing the Right Architecture: Monoliths vs. Microservices in Elixir

Peter Ullrich shares his insights on how social aspects and team dynamics should influence the choice of software architecture. He draws upon his experiences with both monolithic and microservice architectures and advocates for a balanced consideration of technical and business needs when structuring an Elixir application. He suggests using domain-driven design techniques to define bounded contexts and align system architecture with organizational structures. Ullrich outlines how to identify bounded contexts within a business domain, determine how these contexts interact, and subsequently select an architecture that aids in cleanly separating these contexts in the codebase. Using these strategies can lead to a well-structured codebase and prepare for future business changes. In the Elixir-specific part of the talk, he introduces tools and libraries like Phoenix for monolithic Elixir applications, Boundary for enforcing module boundaries, and RabbitMQ and Commanded for microservices. He discusses the importance of standardized deployments and shares techniques for navigating the complexities of both architectural styles in Elixir.