Wirfs-Brock Associates Course: Developing and Communicating Software Architecture

Suitable for teams up to 12 or slightly larger groups. Price:Contact us at training@wirfs-brock dot com. Instructor travel and lodging expenses are extra.

This course, based on the book Software Systems Architecture: Working with Stakeholders Using Viewpoints and Perspectives, provides software architects with skills and knowledge that enable them to prepare, present, and explain their architectures to diverse stakeholders interested in understanding and evaluating their architecture. It is also suited for developers, product managers, quality assurance, and other stakeholders who need to understand how to express their concerns and see that they are represented in a system's architecture.

Objectives
At the completion of this course attendees should be able to

describe architecture views and understand how perspectives cut across them
develop a “profile” of relevant views and perspectives for their system's architecture
develop appropriate descriptions and models given limited time and energy
understand a process for developing an “essential” architecture
recognize options for presenting architecture models
gather and organize architecture material into a coherent, consistent architecture description
explain their architecture's essential features, key benefits, and underlying philosophy
plot a compelling storyline that emphasizes key aspects of an architecture
prepare a presentation of their architecture for a review

Course Philosophy
Students learn by doing. There is ample class-time opportunity to explore concepts and techniques and develop skills. Class is roughly half lecture and half short exercises, discussions, and in-depth labs. Each learning cycle, which lasts between a half hour and two hours, consists of:

a lecture which illustrates and motivates new concepts and techniques
select modules will contain quick exercises to reinforce new skills and/or short discussions
a longer team-oriented exercise
a discussion and critique of team solutions in a group “clinic”

Students present their work for review and comment. An instructor-led discussion of students' work reinforces practices and summarizes key learnings. Short in-class readings provoke stimulating discussions on the nature of software architecture descriptions, the value of understanding different stakeholders' perspectives, how to evaluate different architecture presentation alternatives, and where and when precision is needed.

Topics

Software Architecture Concepts
What do architects do?
How does architecture fit into a software development lifecycle
Stakeholder concerns and requirements
What stakeholders like to “see”
Bridging between requirements and design
An architecture development framework
Stakeholders
Views and viewpoints
Perspectives
Introduction to Architecture Views
Rozanski and Woods' Views
Functional Views
Information Views
Concurrency Views
Development Views
Deployment Views
Operational Views
Comparing and contrasting with Rational's 4+1 and SEI views
An Architecture Definition Process
Scoping
Consolidating inputs
Using functional and quality scenarios to drive out architecture
Identify relevant architectural styles
Producing a candidate architecture definition
Exploring options with stakeholders
Reworking and revisiting requirements
Architecture Viewpoints
A guide to developing relevant views and models
For each viewpoint an in depth presentation of concerns, relevant models, problems and pitfalls, and system applicability
How to model each view effectively
Architectural patterns, antipatterns, and how they impact the architectural views and the models within those views
Checking for consistency across views
Architectural Perspectives
The need for slicing across views to gain perspective
Introducing perspectives
The Security perspective
The Performance perspective
The Availability perspective
The Usability perspective
The Accessibility perspective
The Location Perspective
The Regulations Perspective
Applying Perspectives to Views
The benefits and pitfalls of using perspectives
Preparing a presentation of your architecture
Understanding your audience
Stakeholders and stakeholder concerns
Balancing correctness, sufficiency, conciseness, clarity and precision
Plotting an architectural storyline: scope, breadth, depth
Identifying key architectural aspects
Techniques for presenting complex information: story unfolding and progressive realization
Techniques for increasing emphasis
Understanding fundamentals and presenting a logical progression
Moving up and down in details and levels of abstraction
How to relate architecture to others and handling criticism
Documenting Software Architecture
Creating Architectural Descriptions
Properties of an Effective Architectural Description
When to use UML and when not to
Formal vs. informal descriptions
Elements of a successful diagram
Validating and verifying an Architecture
Validating and verifying that requirements are met
When to review an architecture
Test driving quality scenarios through your architecture
Checking for consistency across views

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