Software Development Pitfalls

In the previous chapters, we built a clear and structured model for designing business process–driven software. Roles were separated, responsibilities were named, and boundaries were made explicit.

This chapter looks at what happens when those boundaries are ignored.

The pitfalls described here are not random mistakes. They are different manifestations of the same underlying problem: confusing architectural responsibility.

Why These Pitfalls Belong Together

Each page in this chapter describes a situation where one part of the system quietly takes over responsibility that belongs elsewhere.

• Presentation logic begins to decide how a business process should proceed.
• Business logic absorbs data processing, data access, or coordination concerns.
• Version control and CI/CD workflows are chosen without regard to the product lifecycle.
• Unit tests are expected to validate behavior that is, by nature, integrative.

Although these problems appear in very different areas of development, they all share the same root cause: the system is no longer organized around clearly defined responsibilities.

The Purpose of This Chapter

This chapter is not a list of rules and not a collection of best practices. It is a set of warning signs.

Each pitfall shows how a well-intentioned decision can undermine the business process model introduced earlier in the book.

The goal is not to criticize common tools or techniques, but to help you recognize when they are being applied in a way that contradicts the structure of the system.

Seen together, these pitfalls reinforce a single idea:

Clear separation of responsibility is not an academic concern. It is what allows business software to remain understandable, adaptable, and resilient over time.

• Presentation Logic Development Pitfalls
  Explores how user interface components gradually take over responsibilities that belong to the business logic layer, leading to fragile workflows and tightly coupled systems.
• Business Logic Development Pitfalls
  Examines how business logic becomes overloaded when it starts absorbing data processing, infrastructure concerns, and coordination responsibilities that should remain in separate layers.
• Git Strategy Pitfalls and an Environment-Centric Solution
  Shows how common Git branching models break down in systems where releases represent contractual or operational milestones, and introduces an environment-centric branching strategy that aligns version control with the product lifecycle.
• Unit Testing Pitfalls in Business Domains
  Discusses the limits of unit testing in complex business systems and explains why some behaviors can only be validated through integration and process-level tests.

 

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Business Process Programming in .Net
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