Microservices has emerged as a leading architectural technique in modern cloud-based systems, but we still think teams should proceed carefully when making this choice. Microservice envy tempts teams to complicate their architecture by having lots of services simply because it's a fashionable architecture choice. Platforms such as Kubernetes make it much easier to deploy complex sets of microservices, and vendors are pushing their solutions to managing microservices, potentially leading teams further down this path. It's important to remember that microservices trade development complexity for operational complexity and require a solid foundation of automated testing, continuous delivery and DevOps culture.
We remain convinced that microservices can offer significant advantages to organizations, in terms of improving team autonomy and faster frequency of change. The additional complexity that comes from distributed systems requires an additional level of maturity and investment. We are concerned that some teams are rushing in to adopting microservices without understanding the changes to development, test, and operations that are required to do them well. Our general advice remains simple. Avoid microservice envy and start with one or two services before rushing headlong into developing more, to allow your teams time to adjust and understand the right level of granularity.
