Carving Sustainability into Architecture Knowledge Practice
Status:: 🟩
Links:: Software Architecture Sustainability
Metadata
Authors:: Tekinerdogan, Bedir; Trubiani, Catia; Tibermacine, Chouki; Scandurra, Patrizia; Cuesta, Carlos E.
Authors:: Funke, Markus; Lago, Patricia
Title:: Carving Sustainability into Architecture Knowledge Practice
Date:: 2023
Publisher:: Springer Nature Switzerland
URL:: https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-031-42592-9_4
DOI:: 10.1007/978-3-031-42592-9_4
Funke, M., & Lago, P. (2023). Carving Sustainability into Architecture Knowledge Practice. In B. Tekinerdogan, C. Trubiani, C. Tibermacine, P. Scandurra, & C. E. Cuesta (Eds.), Software Architecture (Vol. 14212, pp. 54–69). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42592-9_4
In the daily work of a software architect, knowledge is ubiquitous. In addition to technical expertise, architecture knowledge (AK) also requires practical experience in the representation, communication, and management of architectural decisions. However, there is a pressing need to also incorporate sustainability aspects, i.e., capturing decisions towards software systems that are environmentally, economically, and socially balanced in the long term. With this study, we aim to provide a review of AK concepts and their representation and communication from a practical point of view. Having this understanding, we explore where sustainability can be applied in daily practice and how we can address sustainability in architecture processes in the future. The paper presents an empirical study conducted in an industrial context encompassing a questionnaire survey with 32 participants and semi-structured interviews with 15 practitioners; both groups are from a major bank in the Netherlands. Based on the insights gained from combining our findings, we (i) provide a map of applied concepts for communicating and representing AK in a large enterprise, and (ii) discuss potential avenues for carving sustainability into current software architecture practice.
Notes & Annotations
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📑 Annotations (imported on 2024-03-08#07:02:45)
To preserve the reasoning and information about the overarching system across all layers, documentation is a crucial part [8]. It facilitates the documentation of knowledge during the design process, i.e., architecture knowledge (AK), enabling the recording of decisions for future reference and leveraging past experience to improve future decisions [1].
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Ding, W., Liang, P., Tang, A., van Vliet, H.: Knowledge-based approaches in soft- ware documentation: a systematic literature review. Inform. Softw. Technol. 56(6), 545–567 (2014)
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Ali Babar, M., Dingsøyr, T., Lago, P., van Vliet, H.: Software Architecture Knowledge Management. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg (2009)
Although AK is a well-established field in software engineering, the concept of sustainability has gained significant attention only in recent times [4]. Software sustainability is a multidimensional concept that involves environmental, social, economic, and technical dimensions [17]. Despite the increasing attention given to sustainability, practitioners lack reusable guidelines and consolidated knowledge to integrate sustainability into their daily work [16].
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Calero, C., et al.: 5Ws of green and sustainable software. Tsinghua Sci. Technol. 25(3) (2020)
@Calero.etal.2020.5WsGreenSustainable -
Lago, P., Greefhorst, D., Woods, E.: Architecting for Sustainability. In: EnviroInfo (2022)
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Lago, P., Ko¸cak, S.A., Crnkovic, I., Penzenstadler, B.: Framing sustainability as a property of software quality. Commun. ACM 58(10), 70–78 (2015)
The need for addressing sustainability in architecture has led to various approaches, techniques, and tools for designing [14,15], evaluating [10], and improving [20] the sustainability of software systems. To the best of our knowledge, however, those emerging approaches appear in isolation without consideration of embedding them in industrial practice.
- Vos, S., Lago, P., Verdecchia, R., Heitlager, I.: Architectural Tactics to Optimize Software for Energy Eficiency in the Public Cloud. In: ICT4S, IEEE (2022)
@Vos.etal.2022.ArchitecturalTacticsOptimize
Andrikopoulos et al. [2] conduct a systematic mapping study to explore software architecture together with sustainability and find that current research has neglected the holistic viewpoint by focusing on particular sustainability-related dimensions. Lago et al. [16] conduct a more practical study by examining the needs of both researchers and practitioners regarding “architecting for sustainability”.
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Andrikopoulos, V., Boza, R.D., Perales, C., Lago, P.: Sustainability in Software Architecture: A Systematic Mapping Study. In: 48th Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA), IEEE (2022)
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Lago, P., Greefhorst, D., Woods, E.: Architecting for Sustainability. In: EnviroInfo (2022)
The majority of experts (59%) are not aware of the sustainability targets in their organisation. This points to a problem in both representing and communicating the two strategic targets on all architecture levels: target (i) lower the Co2 footprint, and target (ii) circular IT assets.
When asked what would be necessary or what hinders the experts in addressing sustainability, some respondents indicated missing guidance on how to leverage sustainability. This guidance should be either in form of concrete architecture guidelines and standards, tangible strategic goals, and a clear definition of what sustainability means.