Designing Microservices: Responsibilities, APIs and Collaborations

Chris Richardson 2-Day Workshop
Mon-Tue, Sept 21-22

Learn a structured, collaborative process for defining a microservice architecture that enables fast flow.

GenAI-based coding agents dramatically increase the rate of change, making fast flow even more essential. The microservice architecture enables that flow at scale, and well-designed service boundaries act as guardrails for coding agents, containing complexity and limiting technical debt. Yet it is far too easy to get service boundaries wrong and create a fragile distributed monolith where teams are tightly coupled; services change in lockstep; deployments are risky; autonomy is an illusion; and fast flow becomes systemic friction.

In this workshop, Chris Richardson presents a structured, collaborative process for defining a microservice architecture that enables fast flow. Through lectures and guided discussions, you will learn how to design microservices with clear responsibilities, well-defined APIs, and explicit collaboration patterns. In hands-on modeling exercises, you will apply the process using a GenAI-assisted architect's workbench that accelerates architecture exploration and refinement while reinforcing disciplined design thinking.

What you will learn

By the end of this workshop, you will have a practical, repeatable approach for defining a microservice architecture that reduces friction, increases team autonomy, and enables sustainable high-velocity delivery in the age of GenAI. Topics include:

Designing a microservice architecture for fast, sustainable flow
Discovering system operations
Designing subdomains
Service collaboration patterns
Designing a service architecture
Evaluating a microservice architecture
Refactoring a microservice architecture

The Trainer

Chris Richardson is a developer and architect. He is the author of POJOs in Action and the founder of the original CloudFoundry.com, an early Java PaaS for Amazon EC2. A recognized thought leader in microservices who speaks regularly at international conferences, Chris is the creator of Microservices.io, a pattern language for microservices, and the author of Microservices Patterns. He provides microservices consulting and training to organizations adopting the microservice architecture and is working on Eventuate, an open-source microservices collaboration platform.

Who this workshop is for

Architects and tech leads designing or evolving microservice architectures
Developers working in distributed systems who want to understand service boundaries
Teams struggling with tightly coupled services and risky deployments
Anyone looking for a structured approach to microservice design

Agenda

Day 1

Designing a microservice architecture for fast, sustainable flow
Discovering system operations
Designing subdomains
Service collaboration patterns

Day 2

Designing a service architecture
Evaluating a microservice architecture
Refactoring a microservice architecture

How it works

This workshop combines lectures, guided discussions, and hands-on modeling exercises. You will apply the design process using a GenAI-assisted architect's workbench that accelerates architecture exploration and refinement while reinforcing disciplined design thinking.

FAQ

What level of experience do I need?

This is an intermediate-level workshop. Familiarity with microservices concepts and distributed systems is helpful.

Should I bring my laptop?

Yes. You will need a laptop for the hands-on modeling exercises.

What should I wear?

Informal. Wear comfortable shoes as some of the activities involve moving around.

Workshop Details

Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm each day

Max participants: 25

Prerequisites: Intermediate level, familiarity with microservices concepts

Included: Coffee breaks and lunch with the trainer and fellow attendees are included in the workshop ticket.