Microservices become immensely popular because it promised to help organizations build loosely-coupled systems that allow for fast, easy change. But microservices systems haven't always kept that promise. This book identifies the deeper problem -- how software architects and designers approach coupling - and introduces an important new approach for creating more successful designs whether you use microservices or not.

Instead of blindly avoiding coupling, leading software architecture expert Vladik (Vlad) Khononov proposes a novel method that transforms it into a powerful design tool: "balanced multi-dimensional coupling." Khononov begins by surveying existing methods of evaluating coupling, and illuminating their strengths and limitations in the context of modern distributed systems. Next, he introduces a new multi-dimensional coupling model, and demonstrates how to harness it to build modular software.