Communications of the ACM
Software Knowledge nnecessarily Lost
Dutch researchers Remco de Boer and Rik Farenhorst, working on the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research's Joint Academic and Commercial Quality Research & Development program, investigated how software architectural knowledge can be better disseminated and retrieved. Designing and building large software systems requires a great deal of creativity and knowledge, but architects without access to the right knowledge often end up unnecessarily reinventing the wheel.
Farenhorst explored how software architects can share knowledge more easily and discovered that many architects simply do not talk with each other enough, often because they want to receive knowledge but are less willing to pass on their own knowledge. Farenhorst recommends using fixed templates to record architectural knowledge in combination with open communication facilitated by forums that allow architects to find each other. Remco de Boer studied the role of auditors who assess the quality of software systems, which often requires searching through piles of paperwork for specific information, such as the decisions an architect made during the design process. De Boer developed a method for guiding auditors through the information in a more efficient manner.
Both researchers conducted their efforts through the GRIFFIN project, which aims to describe how and why software engineers make their decisions about software architecture.
From Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
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Abstracts Copyright © 2009 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA 
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