The Method Framework for Engineering System Architectures (MFESA) Book Review

This book is a repository of architectural techniques and knowledge that is intended to be customized per project. It is geared towards system architecture, of which software architect is one small discipline, which is true in the context of this book and the systems it refers too. The systems they are referencing are airplane systems, fighter jets, and other large systems. I do believe the book is a great start in building a repository of architectural techniques and knowledge. One thing the repository must accomplish before it is really usable is being distributed electronically. The author says that is in the works. The book is a goldmine of information and guidance. They include a ton of content geared towards the decision making process. It is in the format of Pitfalls, Negative consequences, and Mitigations. Amazon has made the content searchable. You can check out the table of contents, and spend some time searching on topics, for example "architecture tools", "evaluations", or "performance". Also, if you search the web for MFESA or "Method Framework for Engineering System Architectures" you will find some presentation and papers done by the author, which will give you a good look at some of the material found in the book. The authors state that this is a work in progress and this is only the beginning. Hopefully in coming content we will see some guidance on tactics as they are related to quality attributes. I have not seen a more complete compilation of quality attributes anywhere, but they stop at the quality attributes. They do for what I would consider a good reason, it would have double or tripled the size of the book if they would have picked a domain and covered tactics. They do cover architectural mechanisms, styles, and patterns. They also cover decision-making techniques in detail, and a tactic is a design decision that enables control over a quality attribute. They dedicate an entire appendix to decision-making techniques. Although the book is geared towards system architecture, it also applies 100% to software architecture. I have not found any information in the book that is not relevant to software architecture. This is a must have reference for any system or software architect. Keep in mind it is not a process, it is a repository that is used to create an instance of a process. Every project is different to a certain degree, and because of that, every project needs its own instance of a process.