Teaching students software architecture decision making

Rafael Capilla, Olaf Zimmermann, Carlos Carrillo, Hernán Astudillo

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Making the right decisions is challenging for architects on all levels of seniority. Less experienced architects in particular perceive the transition from design problems to their solutions as hard; it is not always clear how to find suitable concepts and technologies, how to compare alternatives, and how to build consensus. Lack of experience makes it difficult to train software engineering students in the identification, selection, and collective evaluation of design alternatives. Moreover, human factors such as cognitive bias make “soft” topics like architecture decisions rather hard to teach. To overcome these issues and let students gain the required experience, a Spanish University ran two experiments. Undergraduate computer science students assumed different roles in collaborative decision-making tasks and design activities. They used a novel decision-modeling tool to capture and challenge the relevant design decisions. This paper describes this new teaching setup and reports on lessons learned.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSoftware Architecture - 14th European Conference, ECSA 2020, Proceedings
EditorsAnton Jansen, Ivano Malavolta, Henry Muccini, Ipek Ozkaya, Olaf Zimmermann
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages231-246
Number of pages16
ISBN (Print)9783030589226
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes
Event14th European Conference on Software Architecture, ECSA 2020 - L'Aquila, Italy
Duration: 14 Sept 202018 Sept 2020

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume12292 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference14th European Conference on Software Architecture, ECSA 2020
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityL'Aquila
Period14/09/2018/09/20

Keywords

  • Architectural knowledge
  • Collaborative decision making
  • Design decision
  • Design thinking
  • Reflection
  • Teaching software architecture

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

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