As a cloud-based service, Software as a Service (SaaS) lets you access and update applications through your internet browser instead of downloading them on your desktop PC or business network. Among the numerous business apps available are office software, unified communications, and a wide range of other business-related software. SaaS provides online access to and use of cloud-based applications.

## Importance of Choosing the Right Subscription Model

Your SaaS product's subscription model is crucial for increasing revenue, ensuring customer satisfaction, and achieving sustainable growth. The subscription model determines how you charge your customers, how they access your product, and how they perceive the value of your service. The right model aligns with your business goals, market demand, and user behavior, providing a balance between profitability and user acquisition.

## Types of SaaS Subscription Models

### Flat-Rate Pricing

In flat-rate pricing, customers are able to access all the SaaS product's features for a set price. This model is straightforward, with no variations in price regardless of usage or number of users.

#### Pros:

- Easy to understand and manage
- Predictable revenue stream
- Simple billing process

#### Cons:

- May not be cost-effective for all users
- Can lead to overpaying for low-usage customers
- Limited flexibility in pricing options

### Tiered Pricing

Tiered pricing involves offering multiple subscription levels, each with different features, capabilities, or limits. The tiers can be chosen by customers based on their needs and budgets. Typically, higher tiers offer more advanced features or greater usage limits.

#### Pros:

- Offers flexibility for different customer segments
- Encourages upselling as customers grow
- Can capture a broader market

#### Cons:

- More complex to manage and communicate
- Potential for customer confusion with too many options
- Risk of mispricing tiers

### Per-User Pricing

Per-user pricing charges customers based on the number of users who access the service. Each user account incurs a set fee, making it easy to scale the cost as the customer's team grows.

#### Pros:

- Scales with the customer's business
- Simple and transparent billing
- Aligns cost with usage

#### Cons:

- Can become expensive for large teams
- Might discourage adding new users
- Potentially lower revenue if user growth is slow

### Per-Feature Pricing

Per-feature pricing charges customers based on the specific features they use. Customers can customize their subscription by selecting the features they need, paying only for what they use.

#### Pros:

- Highly customizable for customer needs
- Can increase perceived value
- Encourages incremental feature adoption

#### Cons:

- Complex pricing structure
- Difficult to manage and communicate
- Risk of customers underutilizing the product

### Usage-Based Pricing

Usage-based pricing, also known as pay-as-you-go, charges customers based on how much they use the service. This could be measured in various ways, such as data volume, transactions, or API calls.

#### Pros:

- Directly aligns cost with value received
- Attractive for variable usage patterns
- Can drive higher usage and revenue

#### Cons:

- Revenue can be unpredictable
- Difficult for customers to estimate costs
- Can lead to customer anxiety over potential charges

### Freemium Model

With a freemium model, the SaaS product comes with a basic free version and an optional premium version. It aims to convert free users into paying customers by attracting a large user base.

#### Pros:

- Low barrier to entry for new users
- Can generate a large user base quickly
- Opportunities for upselling to premium features

#### Cons:

- Requires a clear value proposition to convert users
- Free users may never convert to paying customers
- Can strain resources if free usage is high

## Subscription Models: Things to Consider

#### Target Market

**Identify Customer Segments:** Determine the specific needs and financial capabilities of different customer groups.

**Pricing Sensitivity:** Understand how price-sensitive your target market is.

**Value Perception:** Ensure the subscription model aligns with how your target market perceives value.

#### Product Complexity

**Feature Set:** Assess the range and complexity of features your product offers.

**Scalability Needs:** Consider if the product needs to scale with the user's growth or usage.

**Integration Requirements:** Evaluate if your product needs to integrate with other tools and how this affects pricing.

#### Customer Usage Patterns

**Usage Frequency:** Analyze how often customers will use the product.

**Usage Volume:** Determine if customers will have varying levels of usage that require different pricing tiers.

**User Growth:** Consider if customers are likely to add more users over time, affecting pricing models like per-user pricing.

#### Competitive Landscape

**Market Standards:** Research common pricing models used by competitors.

**Differentiation:** Find ways to differentiate your pricing model to offer a unique value proposition.

**Competitive Advantage:** Ensure your pricing model leverages your product’s strengths compared to competitors.

## Examples of Successful SaaS Companies and Their Models

**HubSpot - Freemium Model**

HubSpot uses a freemium model to provide marketing, sales, and customer service services. It offers free tools for CRM, email marketing, forms, and more, allowing small businesses to start using the platform with no initial cost. Businesses can upgrade to paid plans as they grow and need more advanced features such as marketing automation, custom reporting, and enhanced support. This strategy has enabled HubSpot to build a large user base and effectively convert free users into paying customers.

**Zoom - Usage-Based Pricing**

Zoom, a leading video conferencing platform, employs a usage-based pricing model. While it offers a free plan with time and participant limits on meetings, its paid plans are tiered based on the number of hosts and additional features like extended meeting durations, cloud recording, and webinar capabilities. Zoom's cost model aligns directly with usage and needs, so it can cater to a wide range of customers.

**Salesforce - Tiered Pricing**

Salesforce, a dominant player in customer relationship management (CRM), uses a tiered pricing model. It offers several subscription tiers with varying levels of functionality, from basic CRM tools to comprehensive sales, service, and marketing solutions. Different types of business sizes and complexity can be met by each tier. This approach has enabled Salesforce to capture a broad market segment, from small businesses to large corporations, driving significant revenue growth and market penetration.

[See our Pricing for your own SaaS solution](https://www.ecdevstudio.com/pricing/{pricelink})

## Transitioning Between Models

Reasons to Switch

**Market Demand:** Changes in customer needs or market trends may necessitate a new pricing approach.

**Revenue Growth:** A different model may better capture the value your product provides and drive higher revenue.

**Competitive Pressure:** Competitors’ pricing strategies may force a reevaluation of your own model.

**Product Evolution:** As your product matures and adds more features, a new model may align better with its value proposition.

Steps to Transition

**Evaluate Current Performance:** Analyze the effectiveness of your current pricing model.

**Market Research:** Study competitors and gather customer feedback to identify the best alternative model.

**Plan the Transition:** Develop a detailed plan outlining the new pricing structure, communication strategy, and timeline.

**Pilot Testing:** Test the new model with a small segment of customers to gather data and make adjustments.

**Customer Communication:** Clearly inform customers about the upcoming changes, the benefits, and how it affects them.

**Implementation:** Roll out the new pricing model across the customer base, ensuring smooth operational adjustments.

Potential Challenges and Solutions

**Customer Pushback:** Customers may resist change. Solution: Offer incentives or grandfather pricing for existing users to ease the transition.

**Revenue Fluctuations:** Switching models might lead to temporary revenue drops. Solution: Carefully monitor financial performance and adjust as needed.

**Operational Complexity:** Implementing a new model can be operationally challenging. Solution: Invest in proper training and tools to manage the new model efficiently.

## Final Thoughts

**Recap of Key Points**

- Different SaaS subscription models include flat-rate pricing, tiered pricing, per-user pricing, per-feature pricing, usage-based pricing, and freemium models.
- Each model has distinct pros and cons, suitable for varying market demands and business needs.
- Key factors in choosing a subscription model include target market, product complexity, customer usage patterns, and competitive landscape.
- Successful companies like HubSpot, Zoom, and Salesforce have effectively implemented various models to grow their businesses.

Selecting the right SaaS subscription model is crucial for aligning with your business goals, market demands, and customer expectations. It requires careful evaluation, flexibility, and willingness to adapt as your product and market evolve. [Optimising your pricing strategy](https://www.ecdevstudio.com/pricing/) to drive sustainable growth and customer satisfaction requires understanding each model's strengths and limitations.

Explore various SaaS subscription models including flat-rate, tiered, per-user, per-feature, usage-based, and freemium options. Learn how to choose the right model for your business and navigate transitions effectively.

SaaS Subscription Models Explained | Find the Best Fit for Your Company

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SaaS Subscription Models Explained: Find the Best Fit for Your Company

Technology is driving growth, streamlining operations, and enhancing productivity in small businesses today. One of the most crucial aspects of this technological landscape is B2B software, which caters to the needs of businesses serving other businesses. This blog post will delve into B2B software, exploring the top solutions tailored for small businesses. By understanding the unique needs of small enterprises and evaluating critical criteria, we'll unveil the best B2B software options that can propel these businesses toward success.

## Identifying the needs of small businesses

The environment in which small businesses operate is dynamic, with limited resources and fierce competition. Therefore, they require B2B software solutions that are efficient, affordable, scalable, and easy to use. Whether managing finances, nurturing client relationships, or streamlining internal processes, small businesses need software that can adapt to their evolving needs while providing a competitive edge in the market.

## Criteria for Selecting B2B Software

When choosing B2B software, small businesses must consider several critical factors to ensure they make a suitable investment. Cost-effectiveness is paramount, as small enterprises often operate on tight budgets. Additionally, integration capabilities are crucial for seamless collaboration between tools and systems. Customer support that responds promptly is essential for resolving issues, while positive user reviews can provide valuable insight into the software's reliability.

## Top B2B Software Solutions for Small Businesses

### [QuickBooks Online](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/{externalnofollow})
![Image1.png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/3/6/Image1_3e42809655.png)

QuickBooks Online offers a user-friendly interface, robust features, and seamless integration with other business tools. It is ideal for small businesses needing efficient accounting and financial management software.
An ideal accounting and financial management software for small businesses is QuickBooks Online. Its user-friendly interface, robust features, and seamless integration capabilities make it popular among entrepreneurs and small business owners.

**Advantages:**

- User-Friendly Interface
- Robust Accounting Tools
- Cloud-Based Accessibility
- Integration with Third-Party Apps
- Scalability

**Limits:**

- Learning Curve
- Customization Limitations

### [HubSpot CRM](https://www.hubspot.com/{externalnofollow})
![Image2 (1).png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/3/6/Image2_1_dfa8bae6ee.png)

HubSpot CRM provides a comprehensive solution with powerful marketing, sales, and customer service features for small businesses focused on nurturing client relationships and driving sales growth.

A full-service sales, marketing, and customer service platform, HubSpot streamlines businesses' sales, marketing, and customer service processes. Hubs are available for marketing, sales, customer service, content management, and operations.

The free plan entails a single deal pipeline for one team or department. The dashboard can be tailored to feature the modules most relevant to your sales funnel. Should your needs grow beyond the Free plan, HubSpot offers paid add-ons and subscription plans, helping you control scaling costs.

HubSpot CRM is highly user-friendly and easy to set up. Managing CRM-related communication tasks from a single platform is another advantage of its email integration.

**HubSpot advantages:**

- The free plan supports up to one million contacts
- Automated email marketing to engage and nurture leads
- Integrates Salesforce, Google Workspace, and many other apps
- Tailored real-time analytics
- Efficient email integration

**HubSpot limitations**

- Occasional performance issues could hinder workflow
- There’s no tagging feature within the social planner

**HubSpot pricing**

- Free
- _Starter:_ $20/month (for new HubSpot customers only)
- _Professional:_ $1,600/month

### Asana VS Slack
![Image3 (2).png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/3/6/Image3_2_f00ae48e8e.png)

**[Asana](https://asana.com/{externalnofollow})**

Asana's intuitive interface, task-tracking functionality, and customizable workflows make it an ideal project management and team collaboration tool for small businesses.

**[Slack](https://slack.com/{externalnofollow})**

Communication is vital to small business success, so Slack offers a centralized platform for team messaging, file sharing, and collaboration, helping teams stay connected and productive.

### [Mailchimp](https://mailchimp.com/{externalnofollow})
![Image4 (1).png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/3/6/Image4_1_8fd5f64beb.png)

Mailchimp offers an all-in-one marketing platform with email marketing, automation, analytics, and more for small businesses seeking to amplify their marketing efforts.

Mailchimp was launched in 2001, and since then, it has become an indispensable tool for companies building automated marketing campaigns that convert leads into customers. 

Mailchimp's Campaign Builder is one of its best-known features. This tool allows you to create high-quality email campaigns without knowing coding with its extensive library of pre-built templates and easy drag-and-drop editor. 

Beyond emails, the platform’s features range from social media posts and ad creation to custom reporting and branded content design. Mailchimp is not just a tool, it is also a comprehensive marketing platform that allows you to launch, analyze, and optimize marketing campaigns with robust audience segmentation and analytics.

**Mailchimp advantages:**

- User-friendly Campaign Builder for professional emails
- Pre-built templates
- Robust audience segmentation capabilities for targeted campaigns
- Comprehensive analytics
- Creative Assistant tool for branded content design

**Mailchimp limitations:**

- Reporting features could be more intuitive
- Limited customization options

**Mailchimp pricing**

- Free
- _Essentials:_ $13/month 
- _Standard:_ $20/month 
- _Premium:_ $350/month

### [Ahrefs](https://ahrefs.com/{externalnofollow})
![Image5.png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/3/6/Image5_a18d11654c.png)

Operating one of the most powerful web crawlers, processing up to eight billion pages daily, Ahrefs tirelessly collects data to keep you ahead in the SEO game.

With Ahrefs, you can find out how your competitors rank on search engines and what keywords drive traffic. It also serves as your website’s health inspector with its auditing features, allowing you to pinpoint and resolve issues that could hamper your search performance.

This platform facilitates data-driven decisions, inspires compelling content, and identifies valuable link-building opportunities, among other things. Additionally, its ability to track your ranking progress over time offers quantifiable evidence of your SEO efforts paying off.

**Ahrefs advantages:**

- Powerful web crawler for exhaustive data collection
- SEO competitor analysis 
- Website auditing to identify and resolve SEO issues
- Keyword discovery for targeted engagement
- Tracking ranking progress

**Ahrefs limitations:**

- It can sometimes be challenging to navigate the user interface
- Limited local SEO capabilities

**Ahrefs pricing**

- _Lite:_ Starts at $99/month (additional charges apply if you exceed your plan’s limits)
- _Standard:_ Starts at $199/month
- _Advanced:_ Starts at $399/month
- _Enterprise:_ Starts at $999/month


## Customer Case Studies and Testimonials

Here are some case studies and testimonials for B2B software solutions:

**QuickBooks Online**

Case Study:

ABC Bakery implemented QuickBooks Online to streamline its accounting processes. By automating invoicing and expense tracking, they saved an average of 10 hours per week, allowing them to focus on expanding their product line and reaching new customers.

A customer's testimonial:

_"QuickBooks Online has been a game-changer for our bakery business. We used to spend hours manually inputting invoices and reconciling expenses. Now, it's all done automatically, saving us time and reducing errors. I highly recommend it!"_ - Sarah, Owner of ABC Bakery.

**HubSpot CRM**

Case Study:

XYZ Agency adopted HubSpot CRM to manage client relationships and streamline sales processes. With HubSpot's intuitive interface and automation features, they increased their sales conversion rate by 20% within the first three months of implementation.

A customer's testimonial:

_"HubSpot CRM has transformed how we interact with our clients. From tracking leads to nurturing relationships, it's all in one place. Our sales team loves how easy it is to use, and our revenue reflects its positive impact on our business."_ - John, Sales Manager at XYZ Agency.

**Asana**

Case Study:

DEF Design Studio integrated Asana into their project management workflow to improve team collaboration and task management. With Asana's customizable project boards and real-time updates, they reduced project completion time by 15% and increased client satisfaction ratings.

A customer's testimonial:

_"Asana has been a game-changer for our design studio. We can easily assign tasks, track progress, and communicate with clients within the platform. It's streamlined our workflow and allowed us to take on more projects without sacrificing quality."_ - Emily, Project Manager at DEF Design Studio.

**Slack**

Case Study:

GHI Consulting Firm implemented Slack to enhance communication and collaboration among their remote team members. By incorporating instant messaging, file sharing, and channel-based communication, they were able to reduce email clutter by 40% and improve project turnaround by 25%.

A customer's testimonial:

_"Slack has revolutionized how our team communicates. Instead of drowning in emails, we can quickly share updates, ask questions, and collaborate in real time. It's improved our efficiency and made remote work feel seamless."_ - Mike, Team Lead at GHI Consulting Firm.

**Mailchimp**

Case Study:

JKL E-commerce Store leveraged Mailchimp's marketing automation tools to drive revenue growth and customer engagement. By segmenting their email lists and sending targeted campaigns, they achieved a 30% increase in email open rates and a 25% increase in repeat purchases.

A customer's testimonial:

_"Mailchimp has been instrumental in growing our e-commerce business. With its powerful automation features, we can deliver personalized messages to our customers at the right time, resulting in higher engagement and more sales. It's a must-have for any online retailer."_ - Lisa, Marketing Manager at JKL E-commerce Store.

## Tips for Implementation and Adoption

Implementing B2B software requires careful planning and execution. Small businesses should allocate sufficient time and resources for employee training, data migration, and ongoing support. It's also essential to communicate the software's benefits to employees and proactively address any concerns or resistance to change.

## Final Thoughts

Selecting the right B2B software is crucial for small businesses looking to enhance efficiency, streamline operations, and drive growth. By considering critical criteria such as cost-effectiveness, integration capabilities, and user feedback, smaller enterprises can identify the best software solutions that fit their unique needs and goals. Today's competitive business landscape can be mastered by small businesses using the right B2B software.

🧐
🧐 Discover top B2B software solutions tailored for small businesses, from QuickBooks Online for accounting to HubSpot CRM for client relationships. Learn how these tools enhance productivity and streamline operations, driving growth in today's dynamic business landscape.

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Best B2B Software for Small Businesses

_Embracing the importance of software architecture is not just about building better systems - it's about shaping the future of technology._

In the dynamic landscape of software development, the foundation upon which systems are built is crucial. This foundation, known as software architecture, serves as the blueprint for creating robust, scalable, and maintainable systems. In this blog post, we'll delve into the intricacies of software architecture, exploring its significance in building better systems that deliver optimal performance.

## Understanding Software Architecture

Software architecture encompasses the high-level structure of a software system, defining its components, relationships, and interactions. It serves as a guiding framework for developers, providing a roadmap for designing and implementing complex systems. Clear and well-defined architecture is essential for ensuring system reliability, scalability, and maintainability.

Software architects play a pivotal role in the development process, responsible for designing and overseeing the implementation of the architecture. They must balance various considerations, such as performance, security, and usability, to create an effective architectural design. However, challenges such as evolving requirements and technological advancements can complicate the architectural process, underscoring the need for adaptable and resilient architectures.

## Principles of Building Better Systems

Building better systems through effective software architecture hinges on several key principles:

**1. Modularity**

Modularity refers to the process of breaking a system down into smaller, self-contained modules or components, each responsible for a particular function or feature. The modular approach promotes reusability because modules can be reused in different parts of a system or in other projects. It enhances flexibility by allowing developers to make changes to individual modules without affecting the entire system, thus facilitating easier maintenance and updates. Modularity also fosters better collaboration among team members, as each module can be developed, tested, and maintained independently.

**2. Scalability**

The scalability of a system refers to its ability to cope with increasing loads and data volumes without compromising reliability or performance. Designing for scalability involves anticipating future growth and ensuring that the system architecture can accommodate it seamlessly. Techniques such as horizontal scaling (adding more instances of components) and vertical scaling (increasing the resources of existing components) are commonly employed to achieve scalability. In order for a system to meet the demands of an ever-growing user base or increasing data volume without experiencing downtime or performance degradation, it needs to be scalable.

**3. Flexibility**

Software architecture flexibility refers to the system's ability to adapt to changing requirements and environments. Architectures should be designed with built-in mechanisms for handling changes, whether they are changes in business rules, user preferences, or underlying technologies. Flexibility enables agility, allowing organizations to respond quickly to market demands and opportunities. Future-proofing is an essential aspect of flexibility, ensuring that the architecture can evolve and scale to meet the needs of tomorrow's technologies and business landscape.

**4. Maintainability**

Maintainability encompasses practices that make maintaining and updating the system easier over time. Emphasizing clean code, following coding standards, and adhering to design principles such as [SOLID](https://www.ecdevstudio.com/blog/what-are-the-software-design-principles/) (Single Responsibility, Open/Closed, Liskov Substitution, Interface Segregation, Dependency Inversion) contribute to maintainability. Comprehensive documentation, including architectural diagrams, API documentation, and code comments, helps developers understand the system and make changes more effectively. Well-defined interfaces between modules or components facilitate easier integration and reduce the risk of unintended side effects when making changes.

**5. Performance**

Performance optimization involves maximizing the efficiency and responsiveness of the system to deliver a smooth user experience. This includes optimizing algorithms, minimizing resource consumption (such as memory and [CPU usage](https://www.solarwinds.com/resources/it-glossary/what-is-cpu{externalnofollow})), and reducing latency. Performance can be improved by using techniques like caching, lazy loading, and asynchronous processing.
Monitoring and profiling tools are used to identify bottlenecks and optimize critical parts of the system for better performance.

In adhering to these principles, developers can ensure the long-term success of their software system by creating robust, scalable, flexible, maintainable, and performant architectures.


## Strategies for Effective Software Architecture

Achieving effective software architecture involves employing various strategies:

**Architectural Patterns and Styles:** Building scalable and maintainable systems requires leveraging proven architectural patterns and styles, such as microservices or layered architectures.

**Documentation and Communication:** Clear and comprehensive documentation and effective communication among team members ensure alignment and understanding of the architectural design.

**Technology Selection:** Choosing appropriate technologies and frameworks based on architectural requirements and constraints is crucial for achieving desired system characteristics.

**Continuous Improvement:** Architectural design is an iterative process. Continuously evaluating and refining the architecture based on feedback and evolving needs ensures ongoing optimization and adaptability.

## Final Thoughts

Software architecture plays a pivotal role in building better systems that deliver optimal performance and meet the needs of users and stakeholders. The key to creating robust, scalable, and adaptable architectures is adhering to key principles and employing effective strategies. Innovation will continue to be driven by software architecture as technology develops, enabling cutting-edge digital solutions. Embracing the importance of software architecture is not just about building better systems - it's about shaping the future of technology.

Learn the essential principles and strategies for building better systems through effective software architecture.

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Software Architecture: Building Better Systems

A deep understanding of software design principles is necessary to navigate the intricate maze of code and algorithms. These principles serve as the cornerstone of software engineering, guiding developers in crafting solutions that are not only functional but also maintainable, scalable, and efficient. This comprehensive guide will unravel the essence of software design principles, shedding light on their importance and practical applications in real-world software development projects.

## What Are Software Design Principles?

Software design principles encompass fundamental concepts or guidelines that dictate how software systems should be structured, organized, and implemented. These principles are not rigid rules but rather flexible guidelines that inform developers about best practices and strategies for designing robust and resilient software solutions.

Writing code will only consume 20 to 40 percent of the development process. Therefore, a good system design is essential. A good system should have a good code base: easy to read, easy to understand, easy to maintain(add/modify features and fix bugs), and easy to extend the system in the future. That will reduce development time and resources and make us happier.

Basically, software design is only a part of the development process in the design step. Before doing Software Design, we must complete [Software Architecture](https://www.ecdevstudio.com/blog/quick-dive-into-microservices-benefits-challenges-real-life-examples-best-practices/). When choosing an architecture, you will decide how to handle performance, fault tolerance, scalability, and reliability. It is responsible for defining what each module does, class scope, methods, etc. It's similar to building a house or a building.
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## Why Are Software Design Principles Important?

Understanding and applying software design principles are crucial for several reasons. Firstly, they promote code maintainability by advocating for clean, modular, and well-organized codebases. This makes it easier for developers to comprehend, debug, and extend existing code without introducing unintended side effects or breaking functionality.

Secondly, software design principles facilitate scalability by fostering architectures that can adapt and evolve gracefully as requirements change and user demands grow. By adhering to these principles, developers can design systems that are flexible, extensible, and capable of accommodating future enhancements and optimizations.

Software design principles contribute to the efficiency of software systems by promoting performance optimization, resource management, and code reuse. By following these principles, developers can minimize redundancy, improve code readability, and enhance overall system performance.

## The Core Software Design Principles

### 1. SOLID Principles

SOLID principles were formulated by [Robert C. Martin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Martin{externalnofollow}) (also known as Uncle Bob) to guide software developers in creating more maintainable, scalable, and robust object-oriented software systems. Let's delve into each principle!
![Frame 3845.png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/2/3/Frame_3845_b5935d6852.png)

**Single Responsibility Principle (SRP)**

According to the SRP, a class should only change for one reason. Every class should encapsulate a single function or responsibility. By adhering to this principle, developers can ensure that classes are focused, cohesive, and easier to understand.
For example, separate classes may handle employee information, salary calculations, and tax deductions in a payroll system. Each class encapsulates a single responsibility, making it easier to maintain and modify.

**Open/Closed Principle (OCP)**

The OCP advocates for software entities to be available for extension but closed for modification. This means that classes should be designed to allow new functionality to be added through inheritance or composition without altering existing code.
For example, instead of modifying an existing class to accommodate new types of shapes, you can create a new class that inherits from a common Shape base class or implements a Shape interface, thus extending functionality without modifying existing code.

**Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP)**

It is defined in the LSP that objects of superclasses' subclasses can replace objects of superclasses without affecting their correctness. In other words, derived classes should be substitutable for their base classes without changing the program's behavior.
For example, if Square is a subclass of Rectangle, code that works with Rectangle objects should also work with Square objects without any unexpected side effects or behavior changes.

**Interface Segregation Principle (ISP)**

Using interfaces that clients do not use should not be required, suggests the ISP. Developers should design smaller, more specialized interfaces to meet specific clients' needs instead of large, monolithic interfaces.
For example, separate interfaces for Printable, Editable, and Savable can be created in a document editing application instead of a single interface that encompasses all functionalities. As a result, clients can only rely on the interfaces that are relevant to them.

**Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP)**

The DIP encourages high-level modules to depend on abstractions rather than concrete implementations. By relying on interfaces or abstract classes rather than concrete classes, developers can achieve loose coupling between modules, making the system more flexible and easier to maintain.
For example, instead of directly instantiating a database connection object within a service class, the service class relies on an abstraction (e.g., a Database interface) that can be implemented by different database connection classes (e.g., [MySQL database](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySQL{externalnofollow}), [PostgreSQL database](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostgreSQL{externalnofollow})).

A SOLID approach allows developers to design modular, flexible, and maintenance-friendly software systems. These principles provide a solid foundation for object-oriented design, enabling developers to create more adaptable software that is resistant to the complexities of evolving requirements.

### 2. DRY Principle
![DTY.png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/2/3/DTY_49aade6e6d.png)

The DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principle is a fundamental tenet in software development that emphasizes avoiding code duplication. At its core, DRY advocates for the abstraction of repeated code into reusable components or functions, ensuring that every piece of knowledge or logic in a system has a single, unambiguous representation.

By adhering to the DRY principle, developers can unlock many benefits that significantly enhance the quality and maintainability of their codebase:

**Easier Maintenance**

When code is duplicated across multiple places within a system, any updates or modifications must be applied consistently across all instances. This can lead to errors or inconsistencies if changes are missed in some places. By abstracting common functionality into reusable components, developers can centralize maintenance efforts, making it easier to update and refactor code without the risk of overlooking any instances.

**Reduced Bugs**

Code duplication increases the likelihood of introducing bugs or errors into a system. When the same logic is repeated in multiple places, any bugs or issues in that logic must be fixed in each instance separately. This increases the chances of overlooking a bug and makes debugging and troubleshooting more challenging. By consolidating duplicated code into reusable components, developers can minimize the surface area for bugs and ensure that fixes are applied uniformly across the codebase.

**Improved Readability**

Duplicated code can clutter the codebase and obscure the underlying logic or intent, making it harder for developers to understand and maintain. By abstracting common functionality into reusable components or functions, developers can eliminate redundancy and promote a more concise and readable codebase. This improves code comprehension and facilitates collaboration among team members, as developers can more easily grasp the purpose and behavior of the code they are working with.

The DRY principle is a guiding principle for software developers, encouraging them to strive for elegance, efficiency, and maintainability in their code. By avoiding code duplication and embracing abstraction and reuse, developers can streamline development efforts, reduce the risk of errors, and create easier codebases to maintain, extend, and understand. Ultimately, adherence to the DRY principle fosters code quality and enhances software systems' overall effectiveness and longevity.

### 3. KISS Principle
![kiss.png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/2/3/kiss_8b9f5e1e64.png)

The KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) is a foundational concept in software design that champions simplicity over complexity. It advocates for favoring straightforward solutions over convoluted ones to minimize cognitive overhead, reduce development time, and create systems that are easier to understand and maintain.

At its core, the KISS principle emphasizes several critical aspects of software design:

**Simplicity**

The KISS principle promotes simplicity in design by encouraging developers to choose the most straightforward solution that adequately solves the problem. This involves avoiding unnecessary features, abstractions, or optimizations that may introduce complexity without providing significant benefits.

**Clarity**

By favoring straightforward solutions, developers can enhance the clarity and transparency of their codebase. Simple designs are easier to understand and reason about, making it easier for developers to grasp the purpose and behavior of the software they are working with.

**Maintainability**

Complex solutions are more challenging to maintain and modify over time. The KISS principle helps mitigate this by promoting easier to maintain and extended designs. By keeping designs simple and straightforward, developers can reduce the likelihood of introducing unintended side effects or breaking existing functionality when making changes.

**Development Efficiency**

Simplifying the design of a system can lead to increased development efficiency. By avoiding unnecessary complexity, developers can focus on implementing core functionality and delivering value to end-users. This can result in faster development cycles, shorter time-to-market, and reduced development costs.

In essence, the KISS principle encourages developers to resist the temptation to over-engineer solutions and opt for simplicity wherever possible. By keeping designs simple, developers can improve code quality, enhance maintainability, and create software systems that are more resilient to change and easier to manage in the long run.

### 4. YAGNI Principle
![image 170.png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/2/3/image_170_2f8f85d63c.png)

The YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It) principle is a guiding philosophy in software development that encourages developers to refrain from adding functionality to software until it is deemed necessary. This principle serves as a reminder to avoid speculative or premature optimizations and features that may never be used in practice.

At its core, the YAGNI principle emphasizes several key concepts:

**Minimalism**

YAGNI advocates for a minimalist approach to software development, where developers prioritize the minimum viable product functionality aspect of immediate needs. This involves focusing on essential features and functionalities while deferring non-essential or speculative features until they are truly needed.

**Avoiding Over-Engineering**

Premature optimization and over-engineering can lead to unnecessarily complex, bloated, and difficult-to-maintain software. By adhering to the YAGNI principle, developers can avoid the temptation to over-optimize or over-engineer solutions before the requirements are fully understood. Instead, they can focus on delivering simple, straightforward solutions that address users' current needs.

**Agile Development**

YAGNI aligns well with the principles of agile development, which emphasize iterative development, flexibility, and responsiveness to changing requirements. By deferring non-essential features until they are needed, developers can adopt a Forile mindset and adapt their software to evolving user needs and market conditions more effectively.

**Efficiency**

By avoiding unnecessary features and optimizations, developers can improve development efficiency and reduce time-to-market. Instead of investing time and resources in implementing speculative features that may never be used, developers focus on delivering essential functionality that provides tangible value to users.

In practice, the YAGNI principle helps developers avoid the potential pitfalls of premature optimization or over-engineering, such as wasted time and resources, increased complexity, and reduced flexibility. By embracing YAGNI, developers can adopt a pragmatic approach to software development, prioritizing simplicity, flexibility, and responsiveness to user needs, ultimately leading to more efficient and successful software projects.

### 5. SoC Principle
![soc.png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2024/2/3/soc_2efe3e5d9f.png)

The Separation of Concerns (SoC) principle is another fundamental concept in software engineering that cannot be overlooked. It emphasizes the importance of dividing a software system into distinct modules or layers, each responsible for a specific functionality aspect.

SoC advocates for dividing a software system into modular components or layers, isolating different elements of functionality within separate modules. This helps reduce the complexity of individual components and improves overall system design.

**Benefits of SoC:**

- Improved Code Readability: SoC improves code readability by isolating and organizing related functionality so developers can better understand individual component purposes.
- Enhanced Maintainability: SoC promotes modularity, making it easier to update, modify, or extend individual parts of the system without affecting others, thus reducing the risk of unintended side effects.
- Increased Testability: Separating concerns simplifies testing by isolating individual components, allowing developers to write focused unit tests for each module and ensuring the overall reliability of the software.

As an example, consider a web application handling user authentication and data storage. By applying the SoC principle, developers can separate concerns into layers like UI, authentication logic, and database access. This organization streamlines understanding of software development journey applications.

In summary, the Separation of Concerns principle plays a crucial role in software design, promoting modularity, flexibility, and maintainability. By dividing software systems into distinct modules or layers, developers can enhance code readability, maintainability, and testability, resulting in more robust and reliable software solutions.

## Final Thoughts

In the intricate landscape of software development, understanding and applying software design principles is akin to wielding a compass in a dense forest. These principles serve as guiding stars, illuminating the path toward crafting functional, maintainable, scalable, and efficient software solutions.

At the heart of software design principles lies the essence of structuring, organizing, and implementing software systems. They're not rigid rules but rather flexible guidelines that empower developers with best practices and strategies for creating robust and resilient software.

When embarking on the software development journey, it's crucial to recognize the value of software design principles. They pave the way for code maintainability, scalability, and efficiency by advocating for clean, modular, and well-organized codebases.

Object-oriented design is founded on SOLID principles, which include Single Responsibility, Open/Closed, Liskov Substitution, Interface Segregation, and Dependency Inversion. These principles can help developers create modular, flexible, easy-to-maintain, and extend software systems.

Additionally, fundamental principles like DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself), KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid), YAGNI (You Aren't Gonna Need It), and SoC (Separation of Concerns) further enrich our understanding of software design. These principles advocate for simplicity, minimalism, and modularity, fostering code quality, maintainability, and testability.

In essence, embracing software design principles isn't just about writing code—it's about sculpting elegant solutions that stand the test of time. Through these principles, we are able to navigate the complex landscape of software engineering with confidence and clarity, ultimately leading to software systems that not only meet but exceed expectations.

🔑 Unlock the secrets of software design principles with our comprehensive guide. Learn how SOLID principles, DRY, KISS, YAGNI, and SoC can shape robust, scalable, and maintainable software solutions.

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software design principles.png

What are the Software Design Principles?

Microservices architecture is something that is often mentioned as the architecture to follow, specially in cloud based solutions. But why is it so, and is it really the best option all the time? In this article, I'll guide you through some of the good and the bad, show some real life use cases of it in action, along with best practices to follow if it is indeed the right choice for you.

## Brief history

Software was done traditionally as monoliths. A product consisted of a multitude of features that lived inside the same codebase, were maintained and operated as a huge, concise block. Eventually, due to problems such as single points of failures, scaling issues and coupling, came the need to split up the software into smaller, more manageable pieces. Along this path, came SOA (Service Oriented Architecture), that relied on the web to interface between smaller services.
![Architecture evolution from monolith to Microservices](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2022/9/10/Frame_2984_419bedabaf.png)
As SOA became finer grained and service sizes became smaller, also the ecosystem around it changed. With the introduction of PaaS (Platform as a Service) and the cloud, it became easier to create very small, focused services. Thus microservices started gaining traction.

## Advantages of microservices advantages over Monolithic architecture

So what do microservices bring to the table that make them such an exciting alternative to monoliths? Let's take a look at some sections where there's clear advantages.

### Ownership

When the an application is split into smaller parts, you can have teams or individuals focused on specific parts of the application. This increases the ownership sense: As an individual contributor, you own that microservice, it's yours. It's never "someone else's problem" when it comes to your microservice. This can bring a sense of pride when your microservice works flawlessly, as well as focusing expertise on certain domain areas.

### Scalability

Easier horizontal scaling as opposed to vertical scaling. When the service to scale is smaller, you can fine-tune scaling better, achieving better service availability and cost reduction. Containers (think Docker), offer a lot to better scalability, as scaling up or down means adding or removing copies of containers that needs scaling, with potentially no need to add more servers.

### Blast radius reduction

Having the application split into tiny pieces makes it easier to repair or replace certain parts. If a bug caused a microservice to crash, only a localised part of the whole service will be impacted. Recovery or mitigation become simpler, thus reducing MTTR (Mean Time To Recovery).

### API-first design

The way microservices interact with each other is through APIs. It's essentially a contract where you tell other services what you can do, and what you need to do it. In microservices, APIs must be 'first class citizens'. Forcing services to always have an API, from first design, educates the design to follow from the start. The service must fulfil the API needs, not the other way around.

### Technological freedom

Since communication is done through APIs, the technology used inside each microservice can be tailored to the needs of the functionality. Need a highly performant daemon service? Maybe C is the right language. Need a data analysis service? Perhaps Python is more adequate for that, with its specialised data analysis tools.

## Disadvantages of microservices architecture

The advantages sound great! So why shouldn't microservices be used everywhere?

### Added operational effort

Having a microservices architecture means that each service will have dedicated infrastructure, be it cloud resources or physical servers. Each service will have an independent resource stack, and each stack will have an independent release cycle. In case you follow a Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery for release, this means a specific release pipeline for each microservice. The added operational effort is not only during setup stages, but it follows through the lifespan of the service. Development teams need to manage specific code bases and repos, code changes, approval workflows, automated tests, alarms, deployment and rollback procedures. At scale it is common to have development teams own 1 or a couple of microservices, and this complexity is already accounted for in a standard 6-8 people development team, but in smaller teams and companies there is an added DevOps effort.

### Increased communication complexity

This concern is twofold: first, there's a cost to managing communication between microservices. Distributed systems are inherently more complex to set up. They require an increased development time to define APIs, operations and clear access permissions between resources. Additionally, communication changes are more cumbersome to perform. They require new operations, methods or API versions to be released while keeping support for existing clients and offering clear deprecation paths and procedures.
![Graph of microservice dependencies at Amazon in 2008. From twitter.com/werner/status/741673514567143424?lang=en](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2022/9/10/image_148_ec443c66cc.png)
The second part of this topic is organisational communication. Once you have teams owning specific microservices, any project or feature request involving multiple microservices requires inter-team communication. In big projects or milestones these efforts might even need roadmap alignment. Although these orchestration constraints can also happen in monolithic systems, there's a less strict separation of concerns there, meaning the politics of who-owns-what are more flexible and potentially less impactful.

### Service discoverability

With many services online there is another component that is vital in architecture, a Service Registry that manages service availability, health status and connections. For instance based microservices, this can take the form of a load balancer, whereas with containers, container orchestration tools like Docker Swarm or Kubernetes have this functionality built in.

### Testing

This can be both an advantage and disadvantage and it is important that you follow microservices architecture best practices to avoid some of the testing pitfalls. On the one hand it is simpler to test a clear domain with a smaller test suite. However, to perform end-to-end testing or user acceptance testing (UATs) you need to either mock other services or deploy the full system. At scale, UATs are hard to perform for individual teams. They are usually done in environments that already contain the full system, for example a Beta stage where all teams deploy their individual services but already have service wiring in terms of communications and interoperability.

### Changes in application design

When approaching an application, thinking in terms of microservices architecture changes how to design and develop components. It might give added flexibility and modularity but it also introduces additional constraints and challenges.

Sometimes application size doesn't translate to complexity and not all architectures are suited to follow a microservice approach. It's not a silver bullet! As anything in software development, there's a balance to strike between development effort and maintainability, a give and take.

## Use cases

### Dropbox
![1057500b-bf4d-4bd8-acdc-dbe94e49d201.png](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2022/9/10/dropbox_43fabc9835.png)
Dropbox is a cloud storage service that allows saving files in shared folders sync them to multiple devices.

Dropbox started with a monolithic backend service, called Metaserver. Over the years, as the Dropbox development team increased in size, the pains of working in a monolith increased.

There were many efforts to destructure this monolith into smaller pieces, not all of them successful. An initial effort failed due to reliability issues with the new solution.

After some reassessment, Dropbox decided to use a Hybrid approach. Instead of moving everything to microservices, and suffer the downsides of having microservices, they decided to structure all simple services inside a service called Atlas, while big components would stay as they were, owned by large teams. The reasoning for creating Atlas is, most of the small services are not critical enough to warrant caring about supporting services for each of the microservices independently. Atlas would manage scaling, alarming and other concerns of these services altogether.

Atlas works as a managed service, similar to AWS Fargate, where developers should only care about the code. The target of Atlas is to "provide the majority of benefits of SOA, while minimising the operational costs associated with running a service."

### Uber
![71572a5e-638b-4c4f-98c0-f87e9f573c49.jpeg](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media.ecdevstudio.com/uploads/2022/9/10/Frame_2985_32b541affc.png)
Uber is a transportation company with an app that allows passengers to use a taxi-like service while also allowing users to register as drivers to charge fares and get paid.

Uber started off as [2 monolithic services](https://www.uber.com/en-PT/blog/microservice-architecture/{externalnofollow}). As the company grew from dozens to hundreds of engineers, the pains of having a codebase started to appear, with coupling and availability risks as some of the cited. Uber claims that they could not reach the level of scale and quality offered today without the microservices architecture.

The interesting part about with this use case comes when going from hundreds to thousands of engineers. In that part of their growth, system complexity started to arise as a critical problem. A simple feature can touch multiple services, meaning additional communication with multiple teams, design and code reviews.

To tackle the increased complexity, Uber took steps to reduce granularity with DOMA (Domain Oriented Microservices Architecture). How does DOMA work in a nutshell?

- Organize microservices in collections of services, named domains.
- Organize domains in collections, called layers. Domains inside layers have dependencies in common
- Create gateways that serve as single points of interface with domains.
- Domains should be agnostic from other domains. To share context, Uber uses an extension architecture to create extension points between domains.

With the adoption of DOMA, Uber claims to have been "able to reduce onboarding time by 25-50%".

## Best practices

### Single responsibility principle

Each service should handle a single logical domain and you should establish clear boundaries between services.

### Guarantee decoupling between services

Is your service API exposing internal concepts? Does the client need to know any inner property to make calls on handle responses? If you cannot replace one service internal logic, without impacting clients, that is a red flag that your architecture in coupled. It is one thing to deploy different services and another to have them decoupled.

### Don't persist communication artefacts

It might be tempting to persist objects directly from the API controller, but if you persist communication objects, you cannot change persistence layer without impacting clients.

### Eventually consistent persistence layer

It is a common pattern for micro-services to communicate via Publish/Subscribe pattern and handle notifications asynchronously. In many scenarios, it is simpler and more accurate to follow an eventually consistent approach, where an event notifies the service, but event details are ignored, and query the publisher as the source of truth. This way the end result of processing a notification stream will be the same regardless of message order.

### Extend the microservice to the data storage

Microservices expect separation of concerns even at the data storage level. If this doesn't happen, the coupling persists. If there's ever an issue with the database, all microservices depending on that database are impacted.

When possible, split the data persistence layer for each microservice. As with the code itself, this grants flexibility to choose a specific solution that works best for the target data, instead of having to work for all use cases in the monolith.

### Use smart endpoints, dumb pipes

The idea with this statement is to reinforce the idea that the microservices should own all business logic. When it comes to communication, knowing how to communicate should live inside the microservice (the endpoints), not in the communication protocol (the pipe). This is why microservices tend to use "simple" communication protocols, such as REST and message queues, as opposed to [BPEL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Execution_Language{externalnofollow}) or [Enterprise Service Bus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_service_bus{externalnofollow}).

When microservices own all the business logic, there's no need for another external entity that needs to change when your microservices does, so less moving parts to worry about.

### Monitoring is a must

A side effect of having a monolith is that, when something breaks, it's very likely you will notice it, given the blast radius. With microservices, not so much. To guarantee the best availability to your end users, a thorough monitoring and alarming process, based on SLAs, must be adopted. Key monitoring targets include latency, number of errors, resource usage (CPU, Memory, Disk Space). Having the right level of monitoring for each service will allow the service to react to unusual situations (i.e. fatal bugs that require rollbacks, or traffic spikes that require scaling or rate-limiting) in a timely manner and leave your customers happy.

### Use an API Gateway

There are several benefits that arise when putting an API Gateway in front of a microservice architecture.

One is the reverse proxy nature of an API Gateway. It hides internal microservice endpoints under a single public endpoint. This allows flexibility when changing the underlying services. Consider migrations, where you're splitting the monolith up into smaller services, or you are building a brand new service to replace another one. The flip from old to new can be hidden behind an API Gateway, where the public endpoint for the service doesn't change, but the underlying service does.

Another benefit is centralising some of the cross-cutting concerns that API Gateway manages well. API Gateways already handle functionality such as authentication, authorization, response caching and throttling, so extracting this from each microservice into an API Gateway seems logical to keep microservices focused. Consider the API Gateway as its own microservice, responsible for tasks related to requests.

### Logical architecture and physical architecture may differ

Microservices are a logical concept. The implementation of such a concept doesn't have to be a 1-to-1 copy of the design. Due to size or logical boundaries, you may have multiple services enclosed in the same microservice. To exemplify this, let's conceptualise an example of 1 microservice composed of 2 services. If we have a User Search service and a User Details service, that have isolated codebases, but interact with the same database. It may make sense to logically call this the User Data microservice, while keeping the two service separate. This keeps them together within the same business logic boundary, but allow them to scale independently.

## How do I start?

So you figured out the a microservices architecture is the right call for your project. You've designed the architecture, and are ready to implement. I would suggest not reinventing the wheel here. Microservices have been around for a while, and there's tools and services you can use to make the experience better. A lot of these have the best practices proposed in mind, so less stressing about that. So let's take a look at some tools to get you started.

### Docker

Docker is an open source platform used to build and run distributed applications, in the form of containers. Although containers are not synonymous with microservices, their usage shares a lot of the advantages of using microservices: isolation and scalability being two of them. Most of the tools below expect applications to be containerised, making Docker or other containers a must-use.

### Amazon ECS

Amazon ECS is Amazon's managed container orchestration offering. It's works a layer above Amazon EC2, where you don't deal with instances directly, but you need to manage instances, which includes scaling, monitoring, patching. Because of this, ECS is free, and you pay only for the EC2 instances you use.

### Amazon Fargate

Fargate differs from ECS on how the containers run. With Fargate, task execution is serverless, so no need to worry about EC2 instances, that's transparent to the user. This means, there's far less operational effort with this solution, although you also have less flexibility. In terms of pricing, you pay per task execution time instead of per instance, which may seem like an increase in cost at first glance, but it's possible to have a badly implemented ECS solution cost more than Fargate.

### Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open source container orchestration framework. Originated from Google Borg, it's considered the standard in container orchestration. Many of the features offered by Kubernetes out-of-the-box offer a lot of the requirements for microservices, such as service discovery and load balancing.

You can think of Kubernetes in a lower layer of abstraction compared to Amazon ECS, nothing in Kubernetes is managed for you, you will need to setup all the details. An advantage of this is that Kubernetes is vendor agnostic, so you can integrate with any cloud vendor, or even use it on-premises with your company infrastructure.

If this level of fine grained configuration is not what you need, but you still want to use Kubernetes, a managed Kubernetes service like Amazon EKS may be the right choice.

### Amazon EKS

Amazon EKS is a managed Kubernetes service. Instead of using Amazon's proprietary orchestration like ECS, it uses a Kubernetes management layer for the same purpose. This makes it the more seamless transition if you're already using Kubernetes, but can be more difficult to configure if not. Choose EKS if you plan to go multicloud in the future (since Kubernetes is vendor agnostic), and expect to scale to a large degree.

### AWS Lambda

The one exception on the list to using containers. AWS Lambda is a Function as a Service offering. They offer arguably the easiest path to start using microservices, in terms of ease of development and setup. AWS Lambda is particularly useful for handling short running tasks, such as APIs, or very simple tasks. In those cases, the complexity of containers plus manages orchestration services may not be worth the effort.

## Conclusion

It's important to not pick microservices architecture because it's the new shiny thing on the industry, but to understand the benefits and drawbacks and choose accordingly. In this article we analysed the good and the bad about microservices, and offered some advice on how to begin and do it right from start.

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Quick dive into Microservices: benefits, challenges, real-life examples, and best practices