Software Architecture in Practice, Third Edition

2. Why Is Software Architecture Important?

Software architecture is the set of design decisions which, if made incorrectly, may cause your project to be cancelled.

—Eoin Woods

If architecture is the answer, what was the question?

While Chapter 3 will cover the business importance of architecture to an enterprise, this chapter focuses on why architecture matters from a technical perspective. We will examine a baker’s dozen of the most important reasons.

1. An architecture will inhibit or enable a system’s driving quality attributes.

2. The decisions made in an architecture allow you to reason about and manage change as the system evolves.

3. The analysis of an architecture enables early prediction of a system’s qualities.

4. A documented architecture ...