Architecture-Centric Global Software Processes

Abstract

One organization should focus on architecture since it gives intellectual control, establishing a means of effective communication throughout the project by a common vocabulary; it makes large-scale reuse possible, by clearly articulating its components and interfaces; and it provides the basis for project development and management, orienting development teams in systematically producing different parts of a system [Kruchten, 2000]. It is known that an architecture-based approach can bring about systematic management and productivity for conventional processes. What the industry practices, analyzed in this paper, comes to show is that it is also true for geographically distributed development, and that a common architecture, orienting all the software life-cycle processes, can make the whole difference in the GSD (Global Software Development) business