"Just-in-time" architectural knowledge for developers

Abstract

In this position paper, we present a vision towards supporting developers to better make use of architectural abstractions by providing "just-in-time" access to architectural knowledge. The concept presented in this paper is based on two main pillars: 1. On-the-fly access to "living" artifacts (such as code, user stories, project plans, etc.) with intelligent filtering and selection 2. Interactive presentation of architectural knowledge beyond static documentation of facts. Interactive searching, browsing and selecting relevant information in combination with intelligent decision support functions need to be installed into modern development environments which results in technical as well as social challenges. In this position paper, we sketch a vision pursuing the goal to make architectural knowledge easily accessible for every developer, especially when drowning in systemic implementation challenges.