A Comparative Case Study of Architecting Practices in the Embedded Software Industry

The goal of this study is to improve the understanding of how architecting is performed within the field of software-intensive systems. Architects at six different internationally well-known companies have been interviewed to understand their way of working. This paper presents the practices that are found most successful. The context of the different companies as well as the architecting practices are compared and analyzed. Many of the architecting practices found in the study can be explained by the context of the different companies. The study shows that architects at all companies mention a general lack of understanding of software-intensive systems within industries that used to be mechanical. The architects´ view of their work is very similar independently of where they work. Also the way architecting is performed is very similar, but surprisingly only one company has a defined process for architecting.