Why is software architecture important?

Why should we care about software architecture anyway? Sometimes a developer just wants to jump right in and start coding.

Software architecture is the foundation of a software system. Like other types of engineering, the foundation has a profound effect on the quality of what is built on top of it. As such, it holds a great deal of importance in terms of the successful development, and eventual maintenance, of the system.

Software architecture is a series of decisions. Some of the earliest decisions come from designing the architecture, and these carry a high degree of importance because they affect the decisions that come after it.

Another reason software architecture is important is because all software systems have an architecture. Even if it comprised just one structure with one element, there is an architecture. There are software systems that don't have a formal design and others that don't formally document the architecture, but even these systems still have an architecture.

The greater the size and complexity of a software system, the more you will need a well thought-out architecture in order to succeed. Software architecture provides a number of benefits when done properly, which greatly increase the chances that the software system will succeed.

A proper foundation laid down by a software system's architecture yields a number of benefits. Let's take a deeper look at those benefits.

Defining a solution to meet requirements

Software strives to meet all functional, non-functional, technical, and operational requirements. Working closely with stakeholders, such as domain experts, business analysts, product owners, and end users, allows requirements to be identified and understood. A software architecture defines a solution that will meet those requirements.

Software architecture is the foundation for software, so software systems that lack a solid architecture make it more difficult to meet all of the requirements. Poor architectures will lead to implementations that fail to meet the measurable goals of quality attributes, and they are typically difficult to maintain, deploy, and manage.

Enabling and inhibiting quality attributes

Software architecture either enables quality attributes or inhibits them. Quality attributes are measurable and testable properties of a system. Some examples of quality attributes include maintainability, interoperability, security, and performance.

They are non-functional requirements of a software system as opposed to its features, which are functional requirements. Quality attributes and how they satisfy the stakeholders of the system are critical, and software architecture plays a large role in ensuring that quality attributes are satisfied. The design of a software architecture can be made to focus on certain quality attributes at the cost of others. Quality attributes may be in conflict with each other. A software architecture, when designed properly, sets out to achieve agreed-upon and validated requirements related to quality attributes.

Giving you the ability to predict software system qualities

When you look at a software architecture and its documentation, you can predict the software system's qualities. Making architecture decisions based on quality attributes makes it easier to fulfill those requirements. You want to start thinking about quality attributes as early as possible in the software development process as it is much more difficult (and costly) to make changes to fulfill them later. By thinking about them up front, and using modeling and analysis techniques, we can ensure that the software architecture can meet its non-functional requirements.

If you are not able to predict if a software system will fulfill quality attributes until it is implemented and tested, then costly and time-consuming rework may be necessary. A software architecture allows you to predict a software system's qualities and avoid costly rework.

Easing communication among stakeholders

Software architecture and its documentation allow you to communicate the software architecture and explain it to others. It can form the basis for discussions related to aspects of the project, such as costs and duration. We will discuss this topic further when we go into detail about software architecture in an organization.

A software architecture is abstract enough that many stakeholders, with little or no guidance, should be able to reason about the software system. Although different stakeholders will have different concerns and priorities in terms of what they want to know about the architecture, providing a common language and architecture design artifacts allows them to understand the software system. It is particularly useful for large, complex systems that would otherwise be too difficult to fully understand. As requirements and other early decisions are made for the software system, a formal software architecture plays an important role and facilitates negotiations and discussions.

Managing change

Changes to a software system are inevitable. The catalyst for change can come from the market, new requirements, changes to business processes, technology advances, and bug fixes, among other things.

Some view software architecture as inhibiting agility and would prefer to just let it emerge without up-front design. However, a good software architecture helps with both implementing and managing changes. Changes fall into one of the following categories:

• Limited to a single element
• Involve a combination of elements, but do not require any architectural changes
• Require an architectural change

Software architecture allows you to manage and understand what it would take to make a particular change. Furthermore, a good architecture reduces complexity so that most of the changes that need to be made can be limited to a single element or just a few elements, without having to make architectural changes.

Providing a reusable model

An established architecture might be used again within an organization for other products in a product line, particularly if the products have similar requirements. We'll discuss an organization's product lines, reuse of architecture, and the benefits in the next chapter. For now, simply recognize that, once a software architecture is completed, documented, understood, and used in a successful implementation, it can be reused.

When code is reused, resources, such as time and money, are saved. More importantly, the quality of software that takes advantage of reuse is increased because the code has already been tested and proven. The increase in quality alone translates to savings in resources.

When a software architecture is reused, it is not just code that is reused. All of the early decisions that shaped the original architecture are leveraged as well. The thought and effort that went into the requirements necessary for the architecture, particularly non-functional requirements, may be applicable to other products. The effort that went into making those decisions does not necessarily have to be repeated. The experience gained from the original architectural design can be leveraged for other software systems.

When a software architecture is reused, it is the architecture itself, and not just the software product, that becomes an asset to the organization.

Imposing implementation constraints

A software architecture introduces constraints on implementation and restricts design choices. This reduces the complexity of a software system and prevents developers from making incorrect decisions.

If the implementation of an element conforms to the designed architecture, then it is abiding by the design decisions made by the architecture. Software architecture, when done properly, enables developers to accomplish their objectives and prevents them from implementing things incorrectly.

Improving cost and effort estimates

Project managers ask questions such as: When is it going to be done? How long is it going to take? How much is it going to cost? They need this type of information to properly plan resources and monitor progress. One of the many duties of a software architect is to assist project management by providing this type of information and assisting with determining the necessary tasks and estimates for those tasks.

The design of the software architecture itself affects what types of task will be necessary for implementation. As a result, work-breakdown of tasks is dependent on the software architecture and the software architect can assist project management with the creation of the tasks.

Two major approaches to project management estimation are as follows:

• Top-down approach: This starts with the final deliverables and goals and breaks them down into smaller packages of work
• Bottom-up approach: This starts with specific tasks first, and groups them together into packages of work

For some projects, a project manager may take a more top-down approach, while developers who are going to be working on specific tasks may take a bottom-up perspective. With the experience and knowledge that most software architects possess, they can potentially assist with either approach. A combination of these approaches, where tasks are looked at from both viewpoints, can lead to the best estimates.

It can be helpful when project managers, the software architect, and the developers work together to provide estimates. The most accurate estimates can be obtained by mutual discussions between team members until a consensus is achieved. Sometimes during the consensus building, someone on the team will provide an insight that others had not previously considered, allowing everyone to rethink their position and possibly revise their estimates.

A software system with accurate requirements that are reflected in the software architecture can avoid costly rework that would be necessary if key requirements were missed. In addition, a well-thought-out architecture reduces complexity, allowing it to be easily reasoned about and understood. Reduced complexity can result in more accurate cost and effort estimates.

Serves as training for team members

The system's architecture and its documentation serve as training for the developers on the team. By learning the various structures and elements of the system, and how they are supposed to interact, they learn the proper way in which the functionality is to be implemented.

A software development team may experience change, such as having new team members join or existing ones leave. The introduction and orientation of new members to a team often takes time. A well-thought-out architecture can make it easier for developers to transition to the team.

The maintenance phase of a software system can be one of the longest and costliest phases of a software project. Like new team members introduced during development, it is common for different developers to work on the system over time, including those introduced to maintain it. Having a solid architecture available to teach and bring aboard new developers can provide an important advantage.

Software architecture is not a silver bullet

The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick P. Brooks is one of the seminal texts in software project management. It contains various essays on software engineering. Although this book was written some time ago, and some of the references are now outdated, it provides thought-provoking advice about software development that is timeless and still applicable today:

"There is no single development, in either technology or management technique, which by itself promises even one order-of-magnitude improvement within a decade in productivity, in reliability, in simplicity."

Fred Brooks 1986 essay, No Silver Bullet – Essence and Accident in Software Engineering, which is included in the twentieth anniversary edition of the book, begins with this quote. It essentially conveys the idea that there is no silver bullet in software development.

Software architecture, as well, is not a silver bullet. Although we have covered a number of reasons why software architecture is important, there is no specific architecture or combination of components that will serve as a silver bullet. It can't be thought of as a magical solution that will solve all problems. As we will learn in more detail later, software architectures are about compromises between different and sometimes conflicting requirements. Each architectural approach has pros and cons that must be weighed and evaluated. No one approach should be viewed as a silver bullet.