The new Architecture Journal covers modeling and processes in software development.

This 23rd issue of The Architecture Journal is on Architecture Modeling andProcesses. The articles that were selected for this occasion deal with aspects such as:

• Change-enabled architectures. Brandon Satrom and Paul Rayner advise us on how to keep architecture relevant, and not forgotten, after the solution has been implemented.
• Architecture verification. V. Gnanasekaran explains ways to confirm that a given approach meets specific criteria prior to going to the next level.
• Enterprise architecture. Sam Holcman details the four pillars of success.
• Adaptable solutions for different deployment contexts. Charlie Alfred identifies the implications and trade-offs, with illustrative examples.
• Unified Modeling Language (UML) vs. Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs). Lenny Fenster and Brooke Hamilton dive in to the pros and cons of both alternatives, and show that these can eventually be combined.
• Maturing architectures in agile processes. I wish that I had read articles like Alan Wills’s or Diego Fontdevila and Martín Salías’s before starting my first agile process last decade—when I couldn’t deal with the fact that the next release was in three weeks, and I felt unable to complete my architecture in less than two-and-a-half months.

The Articles

Keeping Architectures Relevant: Using Domain-Driven Design and Emergent Architecture to Manage Complexity and Enable Change
Sound advice on how to keep architecture relevant, and not forgotten, after a solution's implementation.

Evaluating Application Architecture, Quantitatively
An explanation of ways to confirm that a given approach meets specific criteria before going to the next level.

Software Architecture in the Agile Life Cycle
A set of techniques and practices for leveraging the agile approach to software architecture.

Driving Efficiency and Innovation by Consistently Managing Complexity and Change
A detailed description of the four pillars of holistic enterprise architecture that will help ensure success.

Multiple-Context Systems: A New Frontier in Architecture
Identification and illustration of the implications and trade-offs of adaptable solutions for different deployment contexts.

UML or DSL: Which Bear Is Best?
An exploration of the pros and cons of both UML and DSLs showing that they can eventually be combined.

Modeling in an Agile Context
An illustration of how to help the architecture emerge as a consequence of an agile process, instead of a big design up front.

Videos
Don't forget to review the 10-minute videos that we've made as companion material.

Bruce D. Kyle
ISV Architect Evangelist | Microsoft Corporation