Software Engineering Institute

Doing architecture evaluations using the SEI's Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM) has proven to be a valuable tool ensuring systems are designed and build to satisfy stakeholder needs. Often an ATAM is performed after the architecture design is finished. In many cases the ATAM results show major issues in the architecture that need to be fixed before an implementation can start. Very seldom organizations are prepared for that additional effort of adjusting the architecture design to alleviate the uncovered issues. Often organizations move ahead and hope for the best because a schedule has to be met. The techniques utilized by an ATAM architecture evaluation are not limited just doing one-time evaluations. With very little effort they can be integrated into the architecture design process to continuously ensure the design is on the right track so it is very unlikely that an ATAM done at the end of the design phase will uncover major risks. In this event we will discuss the concepts used by an ATAM that make an evaluation successful and we will discuss how these concepts can be integrated into the architecture design process to ensure the creation of successful systems.

About the Speaker

Felix H. Bachmann is a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) working in the Product Line Systems Program on both the Architecture Tradeoff Analysis and Product Line Practice Initiatives. There he is the team lead for architecture-centric product line practices, a co-author of the Attribute-Driven Design Method, a contributor to and instructor for the ATAM Evaluator Training, a co-author of Documenting Software Architectures: Views and Beyond, and leading research on an architecture design expert. Before joining the SEI he was a software engineer at the Robert Bosch GmbH in Corporate Research, where he worked with software development departments to address the issues of increased features and higher quality in the call-control software,—the core of telecommunications products. As a result of these efforts, Bosch developed the OTES (Objects Through Essential Services) Method, in which Mr. Bachmann played a decisive role. Mr. Bachmann also defined the corresponding software development process that describes in three levels how to develop high quality software in a timely fashion. Later he was a Resident Affiliate for Bosch at the SEI where he managed a collaboration in software architecture and product lines that was aimed at applying the SEI technology and methods in these areas within Bosch business units. Bachmann began his career in 1977, educating service staff on determining and rectifying software errors in the first computer controlled telecommunication systems.