PNNL

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a survey we carried out to investigate the state of practice of software architecture reviews. Of the survey results we describe, two are particularly significant for the software architecture research community. First, the survey respondents evaluate architectures mostly using informal, experience-based approaches. Second, the survey respondents rarely adopt the techniques that are highly recommended in architecture review research, such as the use of project-independent reviewers. We conclude that the software engineering practitioner community has yet to become fully aware of the methods and techniques available to support disciplined architecture review processes and their potential benefits. The architecture review research community needs to concentrate on helping practitioners by providing guidelines for justifying and institutionalizing the architecture review processes, and associated tools support.