A study of architectural decision practices

Author

LaToza, Thomas D. ; Shabani, Evelina ; Van Der Hoek, Andre

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf., Univ. of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

25-25 May 2013

Firstpage

77

Lastpage

80

Abstract

Architectural decisions shape a software architecture and determine its ability to meet its requirements. To better understand architectural decisions in practice, we interviewed developers at two organizations. The results revealed that architectural decisions often become technology decisions, which are in turn influenced by both technical and social factors. Meetings and knowledge repositories help to communicate architectural decisions, but code reviews are ultimately necessary to ensure conformance. Costly changes to architectural decisions are caused by the discovery of an Achilles´ heel, an important scenario that cannot be supported by an architectural decision. These findings suggest an important need for social development tools that help developers more easily and successfully share valuable technology knowledge and more effectively make technology choices.

Keywords

organisational aspects; software architecture; software development management; Achilles heel; architectural decision practices; knowledge repositories; organizations; social development tools; social factors; software architecture; technical factors; technology choices; technology decisions; valuable technology knowledge; Companies; Computer architecture; Databases; Decision making; Software; Software architecture; architectural decisions; architecture; developer practices; empirical study;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE), 2013 6th International Workshop on

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CHASE.2013.6614735

Filename

6614735