Models for Evaluating and Improving Architecture Competence

SEI has released a new paper titled Models for Evaluating and Improving Architecture Competence.

Overview from the SEI Download Page
Software architecture competence is the ability of an individual or organization to acquire, use, and sustain the skills and knowledge necessary to carry out software architecture-centric practices. Previous work in architecture has concentrated on its technical aspects: methods and tools for creating, analyzing, and using architecture. However, a different perspective recognizes that these activities are carried out by people working in organizations, and those people and organizations can use assistance towards consistently producing high-quality architectures.
This report lays out the basic concepts of software architecture competence and describes four models for explaining, measuring, and improving the architecture competence of an individual or a software-producing organization.

The models are based on
(1) the duties, skills, and knowledge required of a software architect or architecture organization
(2) human performance technology, an engineering approach applied to improving the competence of individuals
(3) organizational coordination, the study of how people and units in an organization share information
(4) organizational learning, an approach to how organizations acquire, internalize, and utilize knowledge to improve their performance.

The report also shows how the four models can be synergistically applied to produce an evaluation instrument to measure an organization’s architecture competence.

Below is the Table of Contents:

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Terminology and Definitions 2
1.2 Models of Competence 7
1.3 Organization of This Report 9
2 The Duties, Skills, and Knowledge (DSK) Model 11
2.1 What Are an Architect’s Duties, Skills, and Knowledge? 12
2.2 Advantages and Challenges of the Approach 13
2.3 Processing the Raw Data 15
2.4 Duties 16
2.5 Skills 17
2.6 Knowledge 18
2.7 Using the DSK Model to Assess and Improve the Architecture Competence of Individuals 21
2.8 Duties, Skills, and Knowledge for a Software Architecture Organization 22
3 The Human Performance Technology Model 25
3.1 Using the Human Performance Technology Model to Measure and Improve Architecture Competence 27
4 The Organizational Coordination Model 29
4.1 Dependency 29
4.2 The Coordination Capability of an Organization 30
4.3 Measuring the Coordination Activities 31
4.4 Relating Organizational Capability to Dependencies 32
5 The Organizational Learning Model 33
5.1 The Components of the Organizational Learning Framework 34
5.2 Using the Organizational Learning Framework to Measure and Improve Architecture Competence 35
6 Considering the Models Together 37
6.1 How the Models Together Support Evaluation 37
6.2 Principles Embodied by the Models 38
6.3 Coverage Provided by the Models 39
7 Building an Assessment Instrument 43
7.1 Assessment Outcomes 43
7.2 The Foundations and Structure of the Instrument 44
7.3 Sample Questions 45
7.4 Reflections on the Instrument Questions 47
8 Summary 49
8.1 Next Steps 49
8.2 Conclusion 51
Appendix A: Survey of Practicing Architects 53
Appendix B: Complete List of Duties, Skills, and Knowledge 61
Bibliography 69

Get it here.