Software architecture (SA) is celebrating 25 years. This is so if we consider the seminal papers establishing SA as a distinct discipline, and scientific publications that have identified cornerstones of both research and practice, like architecture views, architecture description languages, and architecture evaluation. With the pervasive use of cloud provisioning, the dynamic integration of multi-party distributed services, and the steep increase in the digitalization of business and society, making sound design decisions encompasses an increasingly-large and complex problem space. The role of SA is essential as never before, so much so that no organization undertakes ‘serious’ projects without the support of suitable architecture practices. But, how did SA practice evolve in the past 25 years? And what are the challenges ahead? There have been various attempts to summarize the state of research and practice of SA. Still, we miss the practitioners’ view on the questions above. To fill this gap, we have first extracted the top-10 topics resulting from the analysis of 5,622 scientific papers. Then, we have used such topics to design an online survey filled out by 57 SA practitioners with 5 to 20+ years of experience.

1. Patricia Lago
Patricia Lago, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Henry Muccini, University of L’Aquila
Eltjo Poort, CGI
Presented at: LAC 2018
The History of
Software Architecture
In the eye of the practitioner

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face the ICT challenges of today and
tomorrow.

4. Contents
• Results from an online survey with 57 practicing architects worldwide
• Some reflection
• Your input (see form)

5. The Process behind this Study
5,622 SCIENTIFIC PAPERS 10+ YEARS EXPERIENCE
ICSA PC + TRUSTED NETWORK 21 QUESTIONS

6. The most prominent
SA topics
PAST PRESENT FUTURE
In your experience, what have been the most prominent software
architecture topics of the past 25 years (1992-2017)?
Please enlist at least 3 topics

7. The most prominent
SA topics
PAST PRESENT FUTURE
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
software
development
process
service oriented
architecture
(SOA)
architectural
styles/patterns
Internet of
things
quality of
software (NFR,
QAs)
cloud microservices architecture
description &
languages
separation of
concerns
security
38%

8. The most prominent
SA topics
PAST PRESENT FUTURE
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
software
development
process
service oriented
architecture
(SOA)
architectural
styles/patterns
Internet of
things
quality of
software (NFR,
QAs)
cloud microservices architecture
description &
languages
separation of
concerns
security
Agile, CD&I, DevOps; but also manage-*
CS, DS; but also SPL, MVC, multi-tier, …
Digitization, Web/Internet, Industry 4.0; mobile

9. The most prominent
SA topics
PAST PRESENT FUTURE
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
software
development
process
service oriented
architecture
(SOA)
architectural
styles/patterns
Internet of
things
quality of
software (NFR,
QAs)
cloud microservices architecture
description &
languages
separation of
concerns
security
7
2
6
10
1
Top-10 in academic research
Top-10 in practice only
42 responses => nr. 1

10. The most prominent
SA topics today
PAST PRESENT FUTURE
In your understanding, what are the most impactful software architecture
topics in industry today?

11. The most prominent
SA topics today
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
software
development
process
microservices cloud Internet of
things
big data quality of
software (NFR,
QAs)
security integration
third-party sw
service
oriented
architecture
(SOA)
architectural
design
decisions
architectural
styles
N
N N
70%
PAST PRESENT FUTURE

12. The most prominent
SA topics next five
years
PAST PRESENT FUTURE
From your perspective, what will be the “hottest” or most prominent SA
practices for the next 5 years?

13. The most prominent
SA topics next five
years
PAST PRESENT FUTURE
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
software
development
process
big data microservices cloud adaptive
systems
architectural
styles
Internet of
things
security quality of
software (NFR,
QAs)
blockchain
N
N
52%
N
N

14. Reflection

15. Reflection
TAKEAWAY 1: FROM SYSTEM
STRUCTURE TO EVOLVING
ENVIRONMENT.

16. Reflection
TAKEAWAY 1: FROM SYSTEM
STRUCTURE TO EVOLVING
ENVIRONMENT.
TAKEAWAY 2: SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS WINS IT
ALL: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE.
SA COMMUNICATION VS.
FORMALIZATION

17. Reflection
TAKEAWAY 1: FROM SYSTEM
STRUCTURE TO EVOLVING
ENVIRONMENT.
TAKEAWAY 2: SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS WINS IT
ALL: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE.
TAKEAWAY 3: NO REVOLUTION IN
SA TOPICS, BUT SILENT
EVOLUTION.
VARIOUS FORMS OF AGILITY
SOA > MSA / CLOUD >
CPS / IOT
CPS > IOT AND ADAPTIVE

18. Reflection
TAKEAWAY 1: FROM SYSTEM
STRUCTURE TO EVOLVING
ENVIRONMENT.
TAKEAWAY 2: SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS WINS IT
ALL: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE.
TAKEAWAY 3: NO REVOLUTION IN
SA TOPICS, BUT SILENT
EVOLUTION.
TAKEAWAY 4: SA RESEARCH AND
PRACTICE ARE CONSISTENTLY
ALIGNED (BUT FOR ADLS).
SIMILAR TRENDS FOR CLIENT-SERVER AND
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
DIFFERENT TRENDS BUT PROMINENT IN BOTH:
SA DESIGN AND SA DECISION MAKING
ONLY EXCEPTION: ARCHITECTURE DESCRIPTION
AND LANGUAGES

19. Concluding
Would you change anything in your answers now?
What is your own Takeaway?

20. 4 TAKEAWAYS
ANALYSIS OF
PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
SURVEY WITH 57 ARCHITECTS
ANALYTICS ON
17,000+ SA PUBLICATIONS
SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS

21. Thank you
21@patricia_lago
Credits: slides, ideas and results are a
collective effort with my bright and energetic
colleagues in the S2 Group @Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam www.s2group.cs.vu.nl