I am giving a tutorial at the
SATURN software architecture conference in Minneapolis in May. The tutorial is on (you guessed it) risk-centric architecture. Here is the abstract:
Architectural design is expensive, so how can you do “just enough” architecture? Today, you must rely upon your intuition. Smaller, simpler projects often thrive with agile processes and evolutionary design. Bigger, complex projects benefit from architectural planning. Between the two is a huge hole
- but little guidance on how to choose “just enough” architecture. This tutorial provides guidance via the Risk-Centric Model, inspired by Attribute Driven Design, Global Analysis, and the Spiral model.
Risks are central in the Risk-Centric Model, so developers:
(1) prioritize the risks they face,
(2) choose appropriate architecture techniques to mitigate those risks, and
(3) re-evaluate remaining risks.
It encourages “just enough” architecture by guiding developers to a prioritized subset of architecture activities. The mappings between risks and corresponding architecture techniques are explicit. Since it is not a full software development process, it can be used inside of a process such as XP or
RUP.
