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Software Architecture Guide

Scenario-based Questions from Tactics

Explanation

Section titled “Explanation”

Architecture reviews use several kinds of input. Each one asks for a different level of detail.

Questionnaire. A questionnaire is a list of general, fairly open questions. They apply to all architectures. Tactics-based questions are written in this style.

Scenario. A scenario is different. It is a concrete sequence of steps in which someone uses or modifies the system. A question built on a scenario is tied to one specific situation, not to architectures in general.

Checklist. A checklist is more detailed than a questionnaire. Reviewers build it after evaluating a set of systems from one domain.

So the three tools differ in how specific they are. Questionnaires are the most general. Checklists are detailed and domain-specific. Scenarios are concrete and describe one use or change.

Link to ATAM. The Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM) is a structured way to understand tradeoffs in the architecture of software-intensive systems. It looks at several quality attributes together. These attributes interact, so improving one can make others worse. A sensitivity point is a design decision that affects how well one quality-attribute scenario is achieved. ATAM therefore works with scenarios. See the articles on ATAM and on sensitivity points.

Turning a general question into a scenario-based one means moving from the questionnaire style to the scenario style. The question stops asking about architectures in general. It asks about one concrete sequence of steps.

Example

Section titled “Example”

A general questionnaire item might ask, “Does the system handle failures?” Any architecture could answer that with a short yes or no.

A scenario-style version describes one concrete sequence of steps instead. For example: “A user submits an order, and then one part of the system stops working. What happens next, step by step?” The answer now points to a specific situation that the team can discuss and check.

Trade-offs

Section titled “Trade-offs”

General questionnaire questions apply to every architecture, but they stay open and non-specific. Scenarios are concrete, but choosing and ranking them is not simple. In ATAM, tradeoffs between competing qualities can complicate that selection and prioritization. Checklists give more detail, but reviewers can only build them after evaluating a set of systems in one domain.

Checks

Section titled “Checks”
  • The review separates general questionnaire-style questions from concrete scenarios that describe a sequence of steps of using or changing the system.
  • Where ATAM is used, each scenario is linked to the design decisions (sensitivity points) that affect it.
  • The scenario selection records how tradeoffs between competing qualities influenced which scenarios were chosen and ranked.
Section titled “Related”

Sources

Section titled “Sources”