Call for participation

Workshop at OOPSLA, Seattle, October 2002

Architecture is dead - Long live the Architect!

Klaus Marquardt
Dräger Medical AG
Moislinger Allee 53-55
D-23542 Lübeck
Germany
Tel: +49 451 882 3314
Fax: +49 451 882 4410
Email: marquardt@acm.org
http://www.kmarquardt.de

Jens Coldewey
Coldewey Consulting
Curd-Jürgens-Str. 4
D-81739 München
Germany
Tel: +49 700 26533939
Fax: +49 89 74995703
Email: jens_coldewey@acm.org
http://www.coldewey.com

Alan O'Callaghan
Software Technology Research Laboratory
De Montfort University
The Gateway
Leicester, LE1 9BH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 116 2551551 x6618
Fax: +44 116 2541891
Email: aoc@dmu.ac.uk

Main topics, Keywords

Methods and Process; Agile; Architecture

Abstract

Most approaches to software architecture focus on the initial up-front activities needed in large projects. In contrast, the agile manifesto states that "the best architectures […] emerge from self-organizing teams." This suggests that most of the architecture is defined while the system is already under development. The roles and tasks related to software architecture need to be rethought: What does the architect actually do while the project is on its way?
This workshop takes a close look at the role of the software architect, and the related responsibilities and tasks. The participants will explore how changes to the process and project culture influence this role, and what aspects of the role remain stable throughout different processes. The objective is to collect practices and working attitudes that help the agile project team to deal with software architecture, and the practicing architect to deal with agile projects.

There is no commonly accepted definition of the profession of a software architect yet. Most approaches focus on the initial up-front activities needed for large projects; more recent publications identify that architects also influence regular releases. Nowadays, agile development processes suggest that most of the architecture is defined while the system is already under development.
Maybe the difference is not as large than it seems at first sight. Software architecture has always been about problem solving at a rather global technical level. The technical problems hardly change with the development process. But here questions arise that have not been clearly answered so far. Is there more to software architecture than just technical solutions? And finally, what are the duties of the software architect in not-so-agile projects, after the release of the initial architecture?

Attendees

Every interested practitioner, consultant, academic, or otherwise interested person is invited to apply for attendance. We primarily seek submissions from people who have already worked as software architect, or have experience with agile methods in projects of a medium size.
Applicants (and organizers) need to submit a position statement not later than August 31st. The position paper describes possible links between architecture and agile processes, and should not exceed two pages. The authors will be notified about acceptance by September 15th. The workshop will be limited to 15 persons.

About the Organizers

Klaus Marquardt (marquardt@acm.org ) is lead architect at Dräger Medical AG and responsible for the architecture of a product family of life-supporting systems. He is in-house consultant for software development process and components. He has been introducing object-oriented methods, patterns and agile development ideas in large organizations.
Jens Coldewey (jens_coldewey@acm.org ) is independent consultant in Munich, Germany, specialized in deploying agile development and object-oriented techniques in large organizations. He consults architecture projects in several top-100 companies. Jens Coldewey writes a column on Agile Development in the German SIGS/101 magazine OBJEKTSpektrum.
Alan O'Callaghan (aoc@dmu.ac.uk ) is Senior Lecturer in computer science at De Montfort University, Leicester, England. He has consulted in the migration of legacy systems to object and component-based systems in a number of industrial sectors and authored the ADAPTOR pattern language. He writes a column on migration in the SIGS/101 journal Application Development Advisor.

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