The architecture of a software-intensive system is largely irrelevant to its end users. Far more important to these stakeholders is the system's behavior, exhibited by raw, working source code. As long as a system provides the right answers at the right time with all the right other "-ilities" (maintainability, dependability, changeability, and so on), end users couldn't care less about what's behind the curtain making things work. To stakeholders other than end users, however, a system's architecture is intensely interesting. Moreover, software architecture has had a hand in better project management, greater use of iterative development, and leverage from the Web's infrastructure.
Index Terms:
software architecture, system behavior, stakeholder roles
Citation:
Grady Booch, "The Irrelevance of Architecture," IEEE Software, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 10-11, May/June 2007, doi:10.1109/MS.2007.93