Microservice-based projects in agile world: A structured interview

Context: During the last decade, Microservice-based software architecture (MSSA) has been a preferred design paradigm for a growing number of companies. MSSA, specifically in the form of reactive systems, has substantial differences from the more conventional design paradigms, such as object-oriented analysis and design. Therefore, adaptation demands software organizations to transform their culture. However, there is a lack of research studies that explore common practices utilized by software companies that implement MSSAs.Objective: In this study, our goal is to get an insight into how practices such as an agile methodology, software analysis, design, test, size measurement, and effort estimation are performed in software projects which embrace the Microservice-based software architecture paradigm. Together with the identification of practices utilized for the MSSA paradigm, we aim to determine the challenges organizations face to adopt microservice-based software architectures.Method: We performed a structured interview with participants coming from 20 different organizations over different roles, domains, and countries to collect information on their views, experience, and the challenges faced.Results: Our results reveal that organizations find agile development compatible with microservices. In general, they continue to use traditional object-oriented modeling notations for analysis and design in an abstract way. They continue to use the same subjective size measurement and effort estimation approaches that they were using previously in traditional architectures. However, they face unique challenges in developing microservices.Conclusion: Although organizations face challenges, practitioners continue to use familiar techniques that they have been using for traditional architectures. The results provide a snapshot of the software industry that utilizes microservices.