Course Overview
This class provides an
overview of our approach to architecture, architecting and architects.
It is not a "beginner" class, but rather a fast-paced
treatment of the concepts and techniques that are important
particularly to those who partner with architects, but also to
architects.
I you are a practicing
architect, we recommend the 4-day workshop because that is where you
will get deep coverage of the architecting process and a chance to
practice techniques learned. But if you can't take 4-days right now,
or your budget doesn't allow it, then this 1-day class is a reasonable
alternative.
In this
class on software architecture, we focus on the central concepts and key
concerns of software architecture. It is organized around three major
themes:
architecture
(what),
answering the question: "what is software architecture?" This
section deals with architecture definitions and distinctions, benefits,
key concerns, and primary techniques, including an introduction to architectural
patterns.
architecting
(how),
that is the process of creating an architecture. We provide an overview
of our Visual Architecting Process.
architects
(who),
focusing on the role and responsibilities of the architect and positioning the
architect role within the organization.
We
also address architecture motivation (why), architecture
context (where) and architecture timing (when).
Benefits
More and more
companies are recognizing that they need to build their organization's
architecture competency, and do so quickly. Part of this process is
introducing architecture concepts, and an appreciation for architecture
and its role in software development, to a broad community of managers,
architects, and developers. This is as true in product development as it
is in IT, where application architecture is the foundation for
competitive service offerings and effective internal systems.
This class is designed
to help build a broad, shared appreciation for architecture and the
role of architects, and the role of architecture in upstream
(business) and downstream (development) processes. It helps build a
common foundation of architecture terms and concepts, that will
facilitate the work of the architects, and the work of everyone who
uses the architecture directly or indirectly.
We have considerable experience helping
architects and their organizations transition to higher levels of architectural
competency. This software architecture overview class integrates extensive real-world
architecture experience, and builds on five years of teaching software architecture
workshops.
Please see our paper on
Architecture
as Business Competency, to see how architecture impact other
roles, not just the role of the architect.
Workshop Format
This 1-day class
relies mostly on lecture with class participation. We draw on stories from our experience,
and large-group graphical facilitation, to help enliven and enrich this
seminar format. Nonetheless, if you are looking for a more hands-on, and
hence valuable, learning experience, we encourage you to attend our
4-day Software Architecture Workshop.
Audience
This workshop is
intended as an introduction to architecture for a broad audience, from
managers, to technical leads, developers and test engineers.
Instructor's
Background
The workshop leader,
Dana Bredemeyer, has over 20 years experience architecting, designing and developing
software systems, including 16 years with Hewlett-Packard. He developed HP's internal
Software Architecture Workshop, and continues to be its principal instructor. He has
provided architecture consulting and training to architects, architecture teams and their
management at the project, organization and business unit levels, and has helped teams
develop software, firmware and system architectures for products, product families and
information systems.
Pricing
In-house: Pricing
depends on number of students taking the class. Please contact
us for details.
Open Enrollment: The cost for the
1-day class is US$650 per student. Lunch and snacks
will be provided.
The price includes the workshop binder with
color copies of the slides and notes.
Cancellation Policy
Seminars in the US:
We will refund the registration fee less a 5% processing fee if
cancellations are made more than 30 days in advance of the workshop start
date. Cancellations made 30 days or less from the workshop start date are
not refundable. However, student substitutions may be made any time prior
to the start of the workshop.
Seminars outside the US:
We will refund the registration fee less a 5% processing fee if
cancellations are made more than 6 weeks in advance of the workshop start
date. Cancellations made within 6 weeks of the workshop start date are not
refundable. However, student substitutions may be made any time prior to
the start of the workshop.
All Please Note:
We reserve the right to cancel or
reschedule any workshop if enrollments are below the minimum
necessary to cover costs and provide good class participation. This rarely happens,
and we will keep registrants informed if enrollments are low enough
to cause concern. If we are forced to cancel for any reason (such as
major personal calamity including severe sudden illness or
injury), our obligation will be limited to a full refund of class enrollment fees or
transfer of the registration to a future workshop.
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Course Contents
Software Architecture
In the software architecture
section, we cover:
definitions
and distinctions: we offer definitions of software
architecture and distinguish it from other related kinds of
architectures (enterprise, information, system, etc.).
benefits:
we discuss the benefits of successful architectures, and the
relationship between business strategy, architectural strategy and
competitive advantage.
key
concerns: we identify the focal concerns of architecture,
including system decomposition and component specification,
communication mechanisms, and ensuring system properties such as
performance, consistency, data integrity, and scalability.
primary
techniques: we outline the primary techniques used in
architecting, including
-
architectural
patterns:
we introduce structural patterns such as layers and client/server, and
mechanisms such as brokers and bridges.
-
architecture
modeling using the Unified Modeling Language (UML).
-
architectural
views: structural views help document and communicate the architecture in
terms of the components and their relationships, and are useful in assessing architectural
qualities like extensibility. Behavioral views are useful in thinking through how the
components interact to accomplish their assigned responsibilities and evaluating the
impact of what-if scenarios on the architecture. Behavioral views are especially useful in
assessing run-time qualities such as performance and security. Execution views help in
evaluating physical distribution options and documenting decisions.
architecture,
design and development: we discuss the relationship of
architecture to design and implementation, and the various roles that
are played in ensuring that the architecture is successful.
The Architecting Process
In the process section,
we introduce our Visual
Architecting Process (see VisualArchitectingProcess.pdf).
We provide an overview of the steps involved in:
Init/Commit:
how to gain the support of all levels of management affected by the architecture;
how to create and lead a cohesive, creative architecture team
Architectural
requirements: how to elicit and document functional (i.e., behavioral)
requirements and non-functional requirements (i.e., system qualities).
System
Structuring: how to use architectural modeling to decompose the system,
evaluate architectural trade-offs, and document the system using different views.
Evaluation:
how to assess the system in terms of the system requirements.
Deployment:
how to assist the developer and project manager community in their use of the architecture to ensure its
successful adoption and appropriate use
The Role and Responsibilities of the Architect
This section describes
the role of the architect, and discusses the responsibilities
and associated skills and attitudes of the architect. We also explore
the relationship of the architect role to other roles in the organization.
Venue
We don't have any 1-day open
enrollment Software Architecture Overview classes scheduled at this point:
On-site: If
you would like to hold this class in-house, please call us at (812) 335-1653
or email training@bredemeyer.com for pricing
and schedule.
Suggest a venue: If there
is a location and timing that you are particularly interested in, please let
us know, and we will look into scheduling an open enrollment class.
ABOUT BREDEMEYER
CONSULTING|
Bredemeyer Consulting specializes in helping our clients build
architectural competency. We
typically work with software architecture and enterprise architecture teams, providing training and mentoring to accelerate
the creation or migration of an architecture. However, we do offer a limited number of
Software Architecture and related workshops for open enrollment.
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