3.3.1 A3 Architecture Overviews: Focusing architectural knowledge to support evolution of complex systems*

Abstract

Abstract. Creating complex systems from scratch is time consuming and costly, therefore a good development strategy often chosen by companies is to evolve existing systems. The understanding that a company has about the impact change has on the system determines its ability to cope with system evolution. Reuse of knowledge and experience becomes therefore, essential. Complex systems are usually the result of a multidisciplinary team, which means that an effective way to capture, organize and present this knowledge, in a fashion that can be used by different disciplines and departments is crucial. Typically, some of this knowledge is present in the form of text documents. However, much of that knowledge is usually lost or hidden, especially in long-lived systems. This leads to unexpected problems that could be prevented if the company had reused the knowledge it already has.In this paper system evolution barriers are discussed, and a method to cope with them is provided. Some companies such as Toyota have already identified the advantages of using an A3 approach 2

Interactive A3 Architecture Overviews

“…The timeline of the development of A3 Architecture Overview (as seen in Figure 1, with a zoomable online version at http://tiny.cc/ia3ao-t) starts with the proposition by Borches 5,6 where he describes both the structure and the contents of the A3AOs, as well as the process to create them. The content offers a shared frame of reference between the diverse stakeholders in the design process.…”

“…The A3 Architecture Overviews (A3AOs) by Daniel Borches 5,6 are based on this simplification principle, while focusing on communicating the architecture. By limiting the amount of information to (two sides of) a sheet of A3 paper, the architect creating the overview has to reason carefully about what information contributes to the message and what information distracts.…”

Challenging Architects in Education: the Smart Environments Integration Project

“…However, study material is provided to the students. These include (Bonnema 2008, Maier and Rechtin 2009, Borches Juzgado 2010, Borches and Bonnema 2010, Bonnema 2011, Muller 2011. Also, reference is made to Muller's gaudisite (www.gaudisite.nl) as it contains a wealth of information on architecting.…”

“…Students write a report (typically 30-60 pages) where they present and support the created system design, plus appendices. An often created appendix is an A3 Architecture Overview (Borches Juzgado 2010, Borches andBonnema 2010) of the created system. Figure 3 shows an example of such an A3 Architecture Overview, in this case for the drones in agriculture (Table 1).…”

Exploring usability

“…One team used a one page A3 overview for this purpose. This is comparable to the A3 Architecture Overview developed by Borches and Bonnema (2010) which was applied successfully in industrial projects as a powerful communication tool to share architecture knowledge in complex system design. Like the simplified version of the complete DDUS frame of reference, the A3 architecture overview contains only the essentials and may serve as a baseline for a more comprehensive description with more detailed information.…”