We describe various challenges in ensuring Quality Attributes (QA) of applications hosted in the cloud and hence the perceived quality of service of the cloud as a whole. We advocate a self-management/optimization architecture-driven approach to ensure that Quality Attributes are met. We discuss the limitations of current approaches to self-managing architecture. We propose a novel approach, which exploits the El Farol problem as a modelling mechanism for QAs in architectures of applications in the cloud. The approach uses Service Level Agreements (SLA) and Utility Theory to direct the self-optimization. We conclude by looking at directions for further work.