Tacit Knowledge LLC - Software Architecture Services - Targeted and Effective Software Consultation and Development Services

Business Discussion From Top Looking Down Stairs

A sound software architecture is an extremely critical business asset. It enables the construction of robust systems and the reuse of components across the enterprise. Software architectures are also very complex and involve many tradeoffs during their design. The choice of appropriate tradeoff decisions made in the early phases of the software lifecycle has a determinant impact on many of the crucial qualities the system to be built, such as modifiability, reliability, usability and security. Wrong decisions made early in the architectural design process are in general difficult and costly to change during subsequent stages of development. Whether it be in the context of internal development or during software acquisition processes (e.g., outsourced development), it is important to assess the extent to which software will be adequate to build on in the future.

An architecture evaluation can help mitigate this risk; it is a cheap way to avoid the disaster of finding key flaws in the architecture late in the development process, or worse, after the system is in production. Formalized evaluations can also help organizations objectively compare the suitability two or more competing architectures.

Tacit Knowledge can help facilitate architecture reviews in your organization using a formal evaluation process. Our process is based on quality attributes and usage scenarios. The architecture under review is evaluated based on prioritized quality attributes discovered from interviews with business stakeholders. Some of these attributes are based on formal models (such as performance, reliability, and scalability), while others are qualitative and are based on formal analysis (such as modifiability and usability). The architecture is also subject to testing and analysis based on scenarios gleaned from system requirements. The result of the evaluation is an overall determination of the suitability of the architecture to the specified requirements, improved understanding and documentation of the architecture, an enumeration of the design tradeoffs that were made (such as performance at the expense of maintainability), and the discovery of areas of risk inherent in the architecture.

Key Benefits

Risk Mitigation
A formal architecture evaluation illuminates areas of risk in both new and existing architectures. Armed with this knowledge, architects can redesign portions of the solution accordingly, or isolate risky components in order to protect other system components. Additionally, the evaluation process forces system utility requirements to be explicitly defined up front, reducing the risk of potential stability, performance, and security issues during construction and in production.

Improved Architecture Understanding
Often times the architecture for a solution is created in an ad-hoc fashion or is inherited from a third-party systems integrator. In these cases, the documentation is frequently out-of-date or non-existent. An architecture review will document the primary features, risks, and sensitivity points of your architecture.

Greater Cross-Project Reuse
Experience has shown that the best approach for increasing the number of opportunities for code reuse is by explicitly identifying recurring business requirements and architectural commonalities, both within a project and between projects. Since both the business and technical stakeholders are active in a formal architectural evaluation process, an environment is created where these common requirements and architectural patterns can easily be discovered.

Bridging the Communications Gap
By putting business stakeholders and engineers in the same room, a formal architecture evaluation process forces the prioritization of conflicting goals, creating an understanding and agreement on the quality requirements of the architecture under review.