Enabling executable architecture by improving the foundations of DoD architecting

Architecture is an intrinsic quality or property of a system. It consists of the arrangement and inter-relationships, both static and dynamic, among the components of the system as well as their externally visible properties. We commonly think of this property as the structure or form of the system. Through the practice of architecting, we seek to make apparent the architecture of a system through the creation of architecture descriptions. Architecture descriptions are representations or conceptualizations of the form of a system. In architecting, our goal is to understand, affect, predict, or manage this architecture property in order to achieve other system properties that are dependent upon it. In creating such descriptions, we often employ an architecture framework as a way of conceptualizing the form of the system. A framework consists of a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality. Applying an architecture framework results in creation of a representation of the system that is at least two steps removed from the reality of the system: first, through our interpretation of that reality, and second, through the application of a framework to shape our interpretation. Most of the architecture descriptions produced by DoD architects are static. They portray system properties at a single point in time. However, system properties may in fact change over time due to the interaction of components of the system´s architecture via their established relationships. Successfully achieving the goal of creating executable system models at various phases of a system´s life cycle is principally dependent upon expressing such models at a sufficient level of formality and characterization.