Software Architecture in Practice, Third Edition

16. Architecture and Requirements

The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.

—Ray Kroc

Architectures exist to build systems that satisfy requirements. That’s obvious. What may be less obvious is that, to an architect, not all requirements are created equal. Some have a much more profound effect on the architecture than others. An architecturally significant requirement (ASR) is a requirement that will have a profound effect on the architecture—that is, the architecture might well be dramatically different in the absence of such a requirement.

You cannot hope to design a successful architecture if you do not know the ASRs. ASRs often, but ...