Reducing architectural knowledge vaporization by applying the repertory grid technique

Authors:
Dan Tofan;Matthias Galster;Paris Avgeriou
Affiliations:
Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, University of Groningen, The Netherlands;Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, University of Groningen, The Netherlands;Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Venue:
ECSA'11 Proceedings of the 5th European conference on Software architecture
Year:
2011

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Abstract

The architecture of a software-intensive system is the composition of architectural design decisions. These decisions are an important part of Architectural Knowledge (AK). Failure to document architectural design decisions can lead to AK vaporization and higher maintenance costs. To reduce AK vaporization, we propose to apply the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) to make tacit knowledge about architecture decisions explicit. An architect can use the RGT to elicit decision alternatives and concerns, and to rank each alternative against concerns. To validate our approach, we conducted a survey with graduate students. In the survey, participants documented decisions using the RGT. We compared these decisions with decisions documented using a basic decision template. Our results suggest that RGT leads to less AK vaporization, compared to conventional ways of documenting decisions.