research-article

A value-based approach for documenting design decisions rationale: a replicated experiment

Authors:

Davide Falessi,

Rafael Capilla,

Giovanni CantoneAuthors Info & Claims

SHARK '08: Proceedings of the 3rd international workshop on Sharing and reusing architectural knowledge

Pages 63 - 70

https://doi.org/10.1145/1370062.1370079

Published: 13 May 2008 Publication History

Abstract

The explicit documentation of the rationale of design decisions is a practice generally encouraged but rarely implemented in industry because of a variety of inhibitors. Known methods for Design Decisions Rationale Documentation (DDRD) are aimed to maximize the benefits for practitioners who should utilize the DDRD by imposing the burden on the developers of documenting all the potentially useful information. In our view, the adoption of a tailored DDRD, consisting only of the required set of information, would mitigate the effects of DDRD inhibitors. This paper focuses on confirming empirically the feasibility of a value-based approach for documenting the rationale behind design decisions, and the importance of different DDRD information categories. In this context, this work describes a replicated experiment carried out at the University Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid (Spain) aimed to validate previous results from an analogous study conducted at the University of Roma Tor Vergata (Italy). Results confirm that the level of utility related to the same category of DDRD information significantly changes depending on its purpose.

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Cited By

Breivold HCrnkovic ILarsson M(2018)A systematic review of software architecture evolution researchInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2011.06.00254:1(16-40)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.infsof.2011.06.002
Zalewski A(2017)Risk Appetite in Architectural Decision-Making2017 IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture Workshops (ICSAW)10.1109/ICSAW.2017.38(149-152)Online publication date: Apr-2017
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSAW.2017.38
Weinreich RGroher I(2016)Software architecture knowledge management approaches and their support for knowledge management activitiesInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2016.09.00780:C(265-286)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.infsof.2016.09.007
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Index Terms

A value-based approach for documenting design decisions rationale: a replicated experiment
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. System description languages
  2. Software organization and properties
    1. Software system structures
      1. Software architectures

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A survey of architecture design rationale

Many claims have been made about the consequences of not documenting design rationale. The general perception is that designers and architects usually do not fully understand the critical role of systematic use and capture of design rationale. However, ...
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Design rationale should be regarded both as a tool for the practice of design, and as a method to enable the science of design. Design rationale answers questions about why a given design takes the form that it does. Answers to these why questions ...

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cover image ACM Conferences

SHARK '08: Proceedings of the 3rd international workshop on Sharing and reusing architectural knowledge

May 2008

94 pages

ISBN:9781605580388

DOI:10.1145/1370062

Program Chairs:
Paris Avgeriou
University of Groningen, The Netherlands
,
Patricia Lago
VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
,
Philippe Kruchten
University of British Columbia, Canada

Copyright � 2008 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 13 May 2008

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May 13, 2008

Leipzig, Germany

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Cited By

Breivold HCrnkovic ILarsson M(2018)A systematic review of software architecture evolution researchInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2011.06.00254:1(16-40)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.infsof.2011.06.002
Zalewski A(2017)Risk Appetite in Architectural Decision-Making2017 IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture Workshops (ICSAW)10.1109/ICSAW.2017.38(149-152)Online publication date: Apr-2017
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSAW.2017.38
Weinreich RGroher I(2016)Software architecture knowledge management approaches and their support for knowledge management activitiesInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2016.09.00780:C(265-286)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.infsof.2016.09.007
Gonzalez-Huerta JInsfran EAbrah�o SScanniello G(2015)Validating a model-driven software architecture evaluation and improvement method: A family of experimentsInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2014.05.01857(405-429)Online publication date: Jan-2015
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2014.05.018
Paech BDelater AHesse T(2014)Supporting Project Management Through Integrated Management of System and Project KnowledgeSoftware Project Management in a Changing World10.1007/978-3-642-55035-5_7(157-192)Online publication date: 24-May-2014
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55035-5_7
K�ster M(2013)Architecture-Centric modeling of design decisions for validation and traceabilityProceedings of the 7th European conference on Software Architecture10.1007/978-3-642-39031-9_16(184-191)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-642-39031-9_16
Pedraza-Garcia GCorreal D(2013)Traceability in Software Architecture Decisions Based on Notes about DocumentsNew Trends in Databases and Information Systems10.1007/978-3-642-32518-2_38(403-413)Online publication date: 2013
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32518-2_38
Breivold HCrnkovic I(2010)A Systematic Review on Architecting for Software EvolvabilityProceedings of the 2010 21st Australian Software Engineering Conference10.1109/ASWEC.2010.11(13-22)Online publication date: 6-Apr-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/ASWEC.2010.11
Kruchten PCapilla RDue�as J(2009)The Decision View's Role in Software Architecture PracticeIEEE Software10.1109/MS.2009.5226:2(36-42)Online publication date: 1-Mar-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/MS.2009.52
Salleh NMendes EMendes FLekamlage CPetersen K(undefined)Value-Based Software Engineering: A Systematic Mapping StudySSRN Electronic Journal10.2139/ssrn.4148149
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4148149

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