A model for prioritization of software architecture effort

Abstract

As part of our software architecture research and practice we have found that a common difficulty for new architects is knowing where to focus their effort to maximise their effectiveness. This led us to wonder whether successful experienced architects have reusable heuristics or guidelines that they follow to help them prioritise their work. To investigate this we have performed a study using semi-structured interviews to explore how experienced software architects prioritise their activities in order to maximise their effectiveness. From the primary data collected through the interviews we have synthesised a simple model that organises and explains the heuristics that we found to be common across a number of experienced software architects.