Software Systems Architecture: Working with Stakeholders Using Viewpoints and Perspectives

by Nick Rozanski, Eoin Woods

This is the eBook version of the printed book.

Software Systems Architecture, Second Edition is a highly regarded, practitioner-oriented guide to designing and implementing effective architectures for information systems. It is both a readily accessible introduction to software architecture and an invaluable handbook of well-established best practices.  

With this book you will learn how to

Design and communicate an architecture that reflects and balances the different needs of its stakeholders Focus on architecturally significant aspects of design, including frequently overlooked areas such as performance, resilience, and location Use scenarios and patterns to drive the creation and validation of your architecture Document your architecture as a set of related views  

Reflecting new standards and developments in the field, this new edition extends and updates much of the content, and

Adds a “system context viewpoint” that documents the system’s interactions with its environment Expands the discussion of architectural principles, showing how they can be used to provide traceability and rationale for architectural decisions Explains how agile development and architecture can work together Positions requirements and architecture activities in the project context Presents a new lightweight method for architectural validation  

Whether you are an aspiring or practicing software architect, you will find yourself referring repeatedly to the practical advice in this book throughout the lifecycle of your projects.

Genres: Programming, Architecture, Technology, Software, Computer Science, Technical, Nonfiction

1018 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Suresh Sankaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the very few books on the topic software architecture and will be a great reference to the software architects. This focuses the how to describe an architecture of the system and is based on IEEE standard 1471. Closely relates to the 4+1 view model suggested by Rational (IBM now). Similar to the others, this also follows a model where the architecture is seen as a set of different views with many models within a view.

There is a web site too for reference:

http://www.viewpoints-and-perspective...

[Robson Castilho · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremely disappointed by this book. After reading some good reviews, I expected much more.
Such a boring book. Lots and lots of redundancy.
It seems to me this book was written by people who supports waterfall process, BDUF and long, long, long documentation.
600 pages? It could be much more practical and straight to the point.

[Dmitry Mikhaylov · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is suggesting a thorough approach to software architecture analysis and description through viewpoints (context, functional, information, concurrency, development, deployment, operational) and perspectives (security, performance, availability, evolution, accessibility, internalization, development resource, location, regulation, usability). Nick Rozanski and Eoin Woods did a great job explaining their proven practices. I think this book will be beneficial to any software engineer who wants to play an active role in strategic decision making.

[Abhilash Gopalakrishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One book which explains the process of software architecture in form of steps and more practical approach to viewpoints and views. Essential for a practicing and aspiring architect.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid book on software architecture. Part I describes the fundamental concepts (architecture, architecture description, stakeholders, quality properties, viewpoints, views, perspectives). Part II shows how to define an architecture for a system, taking into consideration business goals, concerns, drivers and architectural principles. It also provides some pointers on how to produce the architectural description and how to evaluate it. Parts III and IV present a catalog of Viewpoints and Perspectives. Part V is actually a single chapter which contains some advice on what should a software architect do on different project types (e.g. Agile vs. Plan Driven, low risk vs large programs, etc.).

I found the advice in this book very helpful and on point. There are lots of small examples, but they are pretty small. I would have liked to see a couple of real life examples of architectural descriptions (maybe on the companion website).

From my perspective, parts III and IV are the most useful and the ones that I will come back to most often. Part III describes the most common viewpoints (context, functional, information, concurrency, development, deployment and operational). It presents the concerns addressed by the viewpoint, how to build models to present the views, common problems and pitfalls (with risk reduction strategies). Part IV describes the most common perspectives (security, performance and scalability, availability and resilience, evolution, accessibility, development resource, internationalization, location, regulation, usability). It shows how to apply the perspective and to which views, a set of architectural tactics for enabling the respective quality properties and common problems and pitfalls. Each chapter in Part III and IV ends with a very useful checklist of things to consider when using the given viewpoint or perspective.

All in all, a very good and thorough book on software architecture. Don't be discouraged by its size. You can use it as a reference book, choosing only the bits that interest you.

[Steve Whiting · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good introduction to the role of the architect. Clearly defines exactly what an architect should think about, what the role includes and what the outputs should be. An ideal starter for someone moving into their first architecture role and well worth keeping as a reference book.

Weak points? Doesn't really reconcile the extensive up-front architecture approach being promoted by the book with Agile approaches - mentions the tension between the two schools, but then doesn't go anywhere with it.

[Reza Bazghaleh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely great book for solution architecture

What I most like about this book is at the end of each chapter author privedes comprehensive checklist covers all the points cover in the chapter. For your projects you can quickly go through the checklist and find the potential risk or area need more attention.

[Karthikeyan VK]

One of the best architecture books, I have read. If you are stuck finding difficulting in documenting your architecture, this is the book you should try.

Should have read at least 5 years before. Would have saved lots of my hard times.

[Maciej · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know a lot about the subject so I read it very selectively. Had I been new into the topic, I would have appreciated the book.

[Reza Bazghaleh · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you you are working as a corporate Solution Architecture or planning to become one, this book is for you. This explain everything in detail and share lots of tips in each area. I think Privay section needs a boost as its not well covered in the book.

[Anetq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read part 1,2 and 5.
3+4 is more of a handbook with the specifik concerns, models, problems and pitfalls, checklist and further reading for each viewpoint (Part 3) and perspective (part 4)

[Sameh Amin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good software architecture book, explaining in details the process and methodologies of creating Architecture description, role and responsibilities of the software architect. i liked very much the checklist per each step of creating the architecture. an important reference for any software architect library.

[Rejeev Divakaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are few good books on Architecture - especially discussing 'how to do' part. Most of the books discusses 'what to do' as wells how to document architecture and different methodology. This books is also not an exception. However it do the 'methodology' and 'what' part very well. It is a very good reference document for architects.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly practical

I found this book to be both very enlightening and very practical. It helped me to structure my view on some areas of software development and allowed to start using many valuable ideas immediately.
It also works great as a tabletop reference for a working architect. I found checklists at end of many chapters to serve as a safety net for me.

[Vijayavel]

Just I bought the book after preview of few chapters
Completed the chapters Viewpoints and different views. This information is very useful for AD, it helps in my project also.. will post more updates on that

[Misha]

I might get back to this book when it becomes more relevant to my current job. But as a reading for broadening the horizons this books contains a lot of superfluous abstract information and not enough examples.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books I've seen on the nature and practice of software architecture (as distinct from design and development). The chapter on different architecture classes was very helpful in some discussions. We are sharing this with new architects now.

[Alan McBee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, so far, is my favorite book on solution architecture. It simply lays out a number of viewpoints from which to consider the model, and the perspectives which are used to ensure that various qualities have been addressed appropriately. Simple but thorough, and very readable.

[Dzung Vuong · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is supposed to be one of the best books on Software Architecture. In my opinion, it's only a good reference. What it lacks are real-world examples to demonstrate the theories.
A book like this needs to have a companion website to provide more examples, hand on quizzes and more.

[TK Keanini · Rating 5 out of 5]

As mentioned in a prior review, this book goes into the social dynamics of software architecture. How to socialize systems architecture and reach consensus would be another title for it.

[Vinod]

good

[Bill de hÓra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Updated and improved from the orginal.

[Stein Karlsen]

Very thorough and detailed.