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Software Architecture Guide

Architectural Tactic

Explanation

Section titled “Explanation”

A quality attribute is a property such as availability or modifiability (see the article Quality Attribute). An architectural tactic is a design decision that affects how well an architecture addresses one such attribute.

Why tactics work. Tactics rest on the parameters of quality attribute models. A quality attribute model describes how a quality behaves, and its parameters are the values you can change. A tactic gives you an architectural way to adjust those parameters. That adjustment can improve the attribute-specific behavior of the finished system.

Example from modifiability. The modifiability tactics are justified through three parameters: coupling, cohesion and cost. These parameters show what the tactics try to adjust. See Coupling and Cohesion and Modifiability Tactic.

Catalogs change with practice. Availability tactics are collected in a catalog. The needs of practice led to updates of that catalog, while its underlying categorization structure stayed stable. A real-world example applies the updated tactics with heuristics and analytic models. See Availability Tactic.

Tactics and patterns. Patterns are built from tactics. The modifiability report maps a standard set of architectural patterns to the tactics they use. Tactics affect the quality response through a detailed quality attribute model. Patterns describe quality effects without such a detailed explanation. See Relationship between Tactics and Architectural Styles/Patterns.

Example

Section titled “Example”

A team wants to keep an online shop running. They open the availability tactic catalog and pick a tactic that suits their needs. They know which model parameter the tactic adjusts, and which quality it should improve. They write down the choice and the reason in the architecture documentation.

Checks

Section titled “Checks”
  • Each documented tactic names the quality attribute it is meant to improve.
  • Each tactic is linked to the model parameters it adjusts, such as coupling, cohesion and cost for modifiability.
  • Where a pattern is used, the tactics it is built from are identified.
Section titled “Related”

Sources

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