A stakeholder-centric optimization strategy for architectural documentation

Abstract

The Software Architecture is an important asset in a software development process, which serves to share and discuss the main design concerns among the project stakeholders. The architecture knowledge must be properly documented in order to be effectively used by these stakeholders (e.g., using a Wiki). However, the repository of architectural documents usually fails to satisfy the stakeholders' information needs. There are several reasons for this mismatch, namely: documentation efforts not perceived as valuable, little consideration of potential documentation consumers, or documentation generated in one single step but "late" in the lifecycle, among others. Therefore, the value of the architecture as a means for engaging stakeholders and articulating their goals within the project is diminished. To address the problem, we argue for a knowledge management strategy in which: (i) architecture documentation is created incrementally; and (ii) its contents are driven by a model of stakeholder preferences. In this work, we present an information optimization approach applied to the architecture documentation domain, derived from an existing documentation method. Specifically, we propose a tool that recommends a satisficing set of (documentation) tasks for delivering architectural contents that address the main stakeholders' needs. A preliminary evaluation of our approach has shown its potential for cost-effective information management. © Springer-Verlag 2013.