Mark Richards at DDD Europe
summary
Defines modularity = partitioning of systems into parts and granularity = size of those parts, then argues the central claim: modularity helps but incorrect granularity causes most problems. Describes common failure modes—excessive coupling, coordination overhead, and brittle boundaries—and gives concrete heuristics for choosing boundary size (tradeoffs between independence and integration cost). Uses examples and a quotable maxim to show where designers typically err and how to detect over- or under-splitting.
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