A Constraint-Oriented Approach to Software Architecture Design

Software architecture design constraints exist and they bound the solution space in some ways. However,in research and practice little is known about the characteristics of these constraints and how they influence decision making. In this paper we report our findings on design constraint characteristics based on case studies in two countries. We discovered how constraints typically manifest themselves in the architecture design process, and how they impact the architectural decisions taken. Based on these insights we suggest a number of implications and strategies to support architectural design.