TY - GEN
T1 - Characterizing essential and incidental complexity in software architectures
AU - Sangwan, Raghvinder S.
AU - Neill, Colin J.
PY - 2009/12/1
Y1 - 2009/12/1
N2 - This paper reports results from an experimental case study that seeks to characterize essential and incidental complexity in the design of a complex software product using design structure matrices (DSMs). A DSM captures structural dependencies among the modules and can be used to identify parts of a system that lack cohesion and/or are highly coupled. We consider such parts as excessively complex. In the case study, we capture the complexity of an Internetbased collaborative system as it was originally designed and after it was redesigned using an architecture-centric development methodology. We find significant reduction in excessive complexity of the redesigned system suggesting that excessive complexity can be an incidental byproduct of a development methodology that lacks focus on the systemic properties of a system that strongly influence its architecture.
AB - This paper reports results from an experimental case study that seeks to characterize essential and incidental complexity in the design of a complex software product using design structure matrices (DSMs). A DSM captures structural dependencies among the modules and can be used to identify parts of a system that lack cohesion and/or are highly coupled. We consider such parts as excessively complex. In the case study, we capture the complexity of an Internetbased collaborative system as it was originally designed and after it was redesigned using an architecture-centric development methodology. We find significant reduction in excessive complexity of the redesigned system suggesting that excessive complexity can be an incidental byproduct of a development methodology that lacks focus on the systemic properties of a system that strongly influence its architecture.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=74349089668&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/WICSA.2009.5290816
DO - 10.1109/WICSA.2009.5290816
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:74349089668
SN - 9781424449859
T3 - 2009 Joint Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture and European Conference on Software Architecture, WICSA/ECSA 2009
SP - 265
EP - 268
BT - 2009 Joint Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture and European Conference on Software Architecture, WICSA/ECSA 2009
T2 - 2009 Joint Working IEEE/IFIP Conference on Software Architecture and European Conference on Software Architecture, WICSA/ECSA 2009
Y2 - 14 September 2009 through 17 September 2009
ER -