Architecture-centric design method

The architecture-centric design method^[1][2] is a novel method for software architectural design from Anthony J. Lattanze of the SEI at Carnegie Mellon University.

ACDM goals

The key goals of ACDM are to help software development teams:

• Get the information from stakeholders needed to define the architecture as early as possible.
• Create, refine, and update the architecture in an iterative way throughout the lifecycle whether the lifecycle is waterfall or iterative.
• Validate that the architecture will meet the expectations once implemented.
• Define meaningful roles for team members to guide their efforts.
• Create better estimates and schedules based on the architectural blueprint.
• Provide insight into project performance.
• Establish a lightweight, scalable, tailorable, repeatable process framework.

ACDM stages

Stage 1: Discover Architectural Drivers
Stage 2: Establish Project Scope
Stage 3: Create/Refine Architecture
Stage 4: Architecture Review
Stage 5: Production Go/No-Go
Stage 6: Experimentation
Stage 7: Production Planning
Stage 8: Production

Notes

References

• Lattanze, Anthony J. (2009). Architecting Software Intensive Systems: A Practitioners Guide. Software Engineering. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-4569-7.