Architectural support in industry: a reflection using C‐POSH

Abstract

Software architecture plays a vital role in the development (and hence maintenance) of large complex systems (containing millions of lines of code) with a long lifetime. It is therefore required that the software architecture is also maintained, i.e., sufficiently documented, clearly communicated, and explicitly controlled during its life-cycle. In our experience, these requirements cannot be met without appropriate support.Commercial-off-the-shelf support for architectural maintenance is still scarcely available, if at all, implying the need to develop appropriate proprietary means. In this paper, we reflect upon software architecture maintenance taken within three organizations within Philips that develop professional systems. We extensively describe the experience gained with introducing and embedding of architectural support in these three organizations. We focus on architectural support in the area of software architecture recovery, visualization, analysis, and verification.In our experience, the support must be carried by a number of pillars of software development, and all of these pillars have to go through a change process to ensure sustainable embedding. Managing these changes requires several key roles to be fulfilled in the organization: a champion, a company angel, a change agent, and a target. We call our reflection model C-POSH, which is an acronym for Change management of the four identified pillars of software development: Process, Organization, Software development environment, and Humans. Our experiences will be presented in terms of the C-POSH model.

A classification and comparison of model checking software architecture techniques

“…More recently, new model-driven techniques and architectural programming languages have been introduced to guide the design and coding process from an architectural artifact (ArchJava, 2007;Fujaba RT Project, 2009;Hacklinger, 2004). In summary, SA specifications are used for many purposes (Mustapic et al, 2004;Bril et al, 2005;Bernardo and Inverardi, 2003): as a documentation artifact, for analysis, and to guide the design and coding process.…”

Product-Focused Software Process Improvement

“…Both tools and processes are embedded in the Integrated Development Environment (also illustrated in [BKP05]). High Quality Product is seen as one of the key selling points.…”

Sustainable Technology Transfer

“…Champions -Champions initialize ideas and will also motivate their colleagues to work with a particular technology. The role of champions in industrial organizations is generally recognized as an important factor for change management [1,4]. We think that a champion is really able to aspire [15]: the capacity of individuals or teams to orient toward what they truly care about.…”

“…It is obvious that champions are needed during Technology Embedding. The champion conducts e.g., the change management and will also manage expectations about the technology to its colleagues [1]. But, the champion is also needed during the Technology Engineering phase.…”