Docs on Microworkflows

Implications

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Implications#

Not using a workflow engine also means that the features they typically provide won’t be available. Let’s look at some of them, and what doing without them means for your system.

Separate Observation From Control#

A commonly stated advantage of workflow engines is the “end-to-end” view over the process.

There isn’t really a reason though for mixing controlling the process (that is, knowing the whole process, the current state an invocation of the process is in, and driving the process by initiating the next step) with observation. We generally try to keep things simple in software architecture, and want to avoid coupling unrelated concerns.

Examples

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Examples#

Order Process#

Submit Your Own Examples!#

Microworkflows And ..

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Microworkflows And ..#

You may find the thought of basing your system on events and microworkflows, and not relying on any coordinator or workflow engine, a bit mind-bending. In fact, I believe the challenge lies not in technology or tools, but in the mindset. I’d like to provide some thought experiments that may make it easier to understand the philosophy behing microworkflows.

.. Unix Philosophy#

Think about the command line tools in your shell. They follow the Unix Philosophy, which has been summarized as:

Orchestration vs. Choreography

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Orchestration vs. Choreography#

If you’ve searched the internet for suggestions how to implement complex workflows with microservices, you most certainly have come across pages and talks that discuss “orchestration” versus “choreography”. Yet - outside of this page - you won’t find these terms on microworkflows.org. Why?

Docs on Microworkflows

Implications

Implications#

Separate Observation From Control#

Examples

Examples#

Order Process#

Submit Your Own Examples!#

Microworkflows And ..

Microworkflows And ..#

.. Unix Philosophy#

Orchestration vs. Choreography

Orchestration vs. Choreography#

What does “orchestration vs. choreography” mean?#

The problem with “orchestration vs. choreography”#

Further Reading

Further Reading#

Articles#