Architecture in the Age of Compositionality

Abstract

The nature of software engineering is changing. Whereas building systems was the predominant activity, more recently the focus has shifted toward composing systems from open-source, commercial and proprietary components and to only build the functionality that truly is competitively differentiating. In addition, the way software is developed has changed as well, especially focusing on short development cycles and frequent, or even continuous, deployment. Because of these requirements, often teams are organized around features, rather than components, and can change all components in the system, including their interfaces. A third trend is the increasing adoption of software ecosystems, where significant development of functionality relevant for customers occurs outside the platform organization. Obviously, however, the quality attributes that are necessary for system success remain important as well as the ability to easily incorporate new requirements in the system in a cost effective fashion. Because of the above, the role of software architecture and in particular the software architects is more important in this new world, but there is significant evolution in the implementation of the role. The paper starts by characterizing the new approach to software engineering and the role of compositionality. It then explores the implications for software architecture and the role of the software architect, Finally, it defines a number of research challenges for the ECSA community to explore.