Understanding how to support architects in sharing knowledge

In this paper we report on four years of case study research in a large software development organization, during which we built up understanding on how to effectively support software architects in sharing knowledge. By following a typical action research cycle we first diagnosed the architecting process of this organization, after which we designed and executed a therapy for the identified problems. The insights gained over the past few years have resulted in four lessons learned and have culminated in a theoretical framework of what architects do and what they need.