Software Architect's Handbook

Allowing for the reuse of architectural knowledge

Software architecture documentation allows architectural knowledge to be reused for other projects. The design decisions made, the design rationale that formed the decisions, and any lessons learned can be leveraged when other software systems need to be created or maintained.

Reuse allows organizations to be more efficient and productive with their software development. If an organization is developing a software product line, which consists of multiple products from the same company to address a particular market, the software products may have some similar functional and non-functional requirements and may share a similar look and feel in terms of the user interface. Parts of an architecture ...