Software architecture design

Software architecture design involves making decisions in order to satisfy functional requirements, quality attributes, and constraints. It is a problem-solving process that leads to the creation of an architecture design.

Software architecture design comprises defining the structures that will make up the solution and documenting them. The structures of a software system are made up of elements, and the relationships between the elements. The properties and behaviors of the elements that are publicly exposed, through an interface, should be identified as part of the design. The design allows you to understand how the elements behave and interact with each other. Private implementations of the elements are not architecturally significant and need not be considered as part of the design.

The software architecture design serves as technical guidance for development and typically occurs iteratively until the initial architecture is at a point where the development team can begin their work. Once an initial architecture is designed, it can continue to evolve as development is taking place. For example, additional design iterations may occur to refactor an architecture to fulfill new requirements or quality attributes.

Software architecture design is a creative process. Software architects have the privilege of coming up with solutions to complex problems and can use creativity to do it. It can be one of the most fun and rewarding parts of a software project.