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Software Architecture Guide

Adaptability

Explanation

Section titled “Explanation”

Adaptability describes how easily a product can be adapted when its situation changes. The change may touch requirements, the way people use the product, or the system environment around it. The environment includes hardware, software, and other surroundings.

Where it sits in ISO 25010. The ISO 25010 quality model groups product qualities into characteristics. In the 2023 update, the characteristic called Portability was renamed Flexibility. Its sub-characteristics include adaptability, scalability, installability, and replaceability. See the articles on Flexibility, Installability, Replaceability, and Scalability.

Neighbor: replaceability. Replaceability is a sibling of adaptability. It asks whether one product can take the place of another for the same purpose in the same environment. Adaptability asks whether the product itself can be adapted to the change.

Different or evolving environments. The arc42 quality model describes Flexibility as adaptation to different or evolving hardware, software, or other environments. So adaptability covers a move to something different and also a gradual shift in what the system runs on.

Open questions about its scope. One critique notes that adaptability fits under both portability and maintainability, yet ISO places it only under portability. The same critique argues that adaptability and changeability are almost the same idea. It also argues that adaptability should cover changed requirements, not only a transfer to another operating system. For the maintenance view, see Modifiability and Maintainability.

Example

Section titled “Example”

A team runs an internal reporting tool on one operating system. Later the company changes its standard platform, and users also ask for a new kind of report. The team asks how well the tool can be adapted to both changes. The first is a change of environment. The second is a change of requirements. Under the broad reading of adaptability, both count.

Checks

Section titled “Checks”
  • The document states whether adaptability covers changed requirements, or only a move to another platform.
  • The document names which hardware, software, or other environments the system must be adaptable to.
  • The document uses the current ISO 25010 names, with adaptability listed under Flexibility.
  • The document separates adaptability from replaceability, where one product replaces another in the same environment.
Section titled “Related”

Sources

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