Mitigating the Risk of Software Change in Practice Retrospective on More Than 50 Architecture Evaluations in Industry (Keynote Paper)

Abstract

Architecture evaluation has become a mature instrument to make decisions about software systems, assess and mitigate risks, and to identify ways for improvement and migration of software systems. While scientific literature on approaches is available, publications on practical experiences are rather limited. In this paper, we share our experiences - after having performed more than 50 architecture evaluations for industrial customers in the last decade. We compiled facts and consolidate our findings about architecture evaluations in industry and especially highlight the role of reverse engineering in these projects. We share our lessons learned and provide data on common believes and provide examples for common misconceptions on the power of reverse engineering. This industrial and practical perspective allows practitioners to benefit from our experience in their daily architecture work and how to guide research of the scientific community.