The Importance of Choosing a Good Software Architecture

Creating a software application is a multifaceted process, with coding being only a minor aspect. A typical software engineering cycle may look like this:

A business analyst collects business needs from stakeholders, which are then transformed into a format that developers can use to begin building the software (such as generating user stories). The software’s architecture is established and documented in the design phase, followed by coding and evaluating the results. Once the coded components are approved, they are launched on the production server and then routinely maintained or updated. This is the process of developing a comprehensive software solution.

In this section, we’ll delve into the most overlooked yet critical element of a software development cycle – the software architecture. We will also explore some of the prevalent software architectures. Let’s begin.

What is Software ?

“Software architecture outlines how the components of a software system should be organized/assembled, their communication methods, and the constraints governing the entire system.”

By definition, software architecture has three essential components:

1. Architectural Pattern

The architectural pattern determines a component’s granularity, i.e., its size. For instance, a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) will have larger independent components than Microservices. An appropriate architecture pattern is chosen before the development starts, depending on the application type, requirements, and dependencies. In this context, an architecture provides direction to the development team.

2. System Interaction

Software architecture specifies how the components interact with each other. This includes the interfaces that the system uses for interaction. It also includes the messaging mechanism and how software components will interact with APIs.

3. Quality Attributes

Quality attributes like scalability, resolvability, adaptability, resilience, etc., are important. When designing software, it is crucial to consider all potential failures and design a robust solution (besides gathering requirements). However, given today’s complex software, it’s impossible to anticipate every possible error, crash, or unexpected output. Software architecture defines these attributes to develop a scalable, reliable solution.

Benefits of Software Architecture

Designing a software architecture involves discussing factors that can influence the development, deployment, and maintenance cycle. Considering these high-impact factors helps avoid schedule and budget overruns.

It thoroughly examines the software system’s behavior before it is actually built. This analysis allows a software engineering team to inform stakeholders about the expected output of their requirements. This not only reduces risks but also saves significant costs that could be incurred in building or modifying parts of the solution.

Designing architecture identifies reusable elements for building the solution. Reusable components accelerate the software development cycle and can be used across multiple systems where stakeholders require similar attributes or functionality in a solution.

The Bottom Line

While various architectures exist to make software development scalable, cost-effective, and fault-resistant, it is crucial to choose one that suits your solution. At Unthinkable, we prioritize software architecture before starting software development.

Want to know which software architecture is best for your solution? Schedule a free consultation with our software architect, who will understand your business and provide the best architecture recommendation.