Conclusion

There is no magic when it comes to creating software architecture. Software architecture captures what is important about the design and communicates those concepts to the stakeholders on the project. Enterprise architecture is in many ways a product of the combined software architectures of the systems in the organization. Therefore, it is important to get the architecture right. To be credible, the architecture should be thin, approachable, readable, and understandable. With an intense focus on the architecture baseline and a quality attribute-based analysis of the software architecture as it is being built, it is likely that the architecture will suit the needs of the project.

In Chapter 4, we look at software product lines. Software product lines will allow an organization to leverage great architecture across multiple projects that have similar characteristics. Using great architecture and a product-line approach to delivering it, an organization can achieve great enterprise architecture.