Improving the quality of architecture design through peer-reviews and recombination

Mojtaba Shahin, Muhammad Ali Babar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Software architecture reviews help improve the quality of architecture design decisions. Traditional reviews are considered expensive and timeconsuming. We assert that organizations can consider leveraging peer-reviews and recombination (i.e., promoting design improvement through sharing design ideas) activities to improve the quality of architectures and getting staff trained. This paper reports a case study aimed at exploring the potential impact of combining peer-review and recombination on the quality of architecture design and design decisions made by novice architects, who usually have limited practical experience of architecture design. The findings show that the use of peer-review and recombination can improve both the quality of architecture design and documented decisions. From the decision-making perspective, this study also identifies the main types of challenges that the participants faced during architectural decision making and reasoning. These findings can be leveraged to focus on the types of training novice architects may need to effectively and efficiently address the types of challenges identified in this study.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSoftware Architecture
Subtitle of host publication9th European Conference, ECSA 2015 Dubrovnik/Cavtat, Croatia, September 7–11, 2015 Proceedings
EditorsDanny Weyns, Raffaela Mirandola, Ivica Crnkovic
Place of PublicationCham Switzerland
PublisherSpringer
Pages70-86
Number of pages17
Volume9278
ISBN (Electronic)9783319237275
ISBN (Print)9783319237268
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes
EventEuropean Conference on Software Architecture 2015 - Dubrovnik/Cavtat, Croatia
Duration: 7 Sept 201511 Sept 2015
Conference number: 9th
http://ecsa-conference.org/2015/

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
PublisherSpringer
Volume9278
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

ConferenceEuropean Conference on Software Architecture 2015
Abbreviated titleECSA 2015
Country/TerritoryCroatia
CityDubrovnik/Cavtat
Period7/09/1511/09/15
Internet address

Keywords

  • Architectural design decision
  • Design quality
  • Peer-review
  • Recombination
  • Software architecture design

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