Documentation as ballast? Effective documenting of the architecture helps you in the design of the software, manages the implementation and results in an understandable and assessable solution. Appropriate documentation supports interaction within the team and vis-à-vis third parties. In this interactive workshop you will learn how the documentation of the architecture changes from a burdensome duty to an integral communication and work tool. Learn to concisely document architecture-relevant influencing factors and important decisions.

• Introduction and motivation: Which goals do you pursue with architecture documentation?

• Minimal architecture overview: What should be included? How is it produced?

• Ingredients of architecture documentation: decisions, concepts, diagrams …

• Structure: advantage of templates, arc42, and alternatives

• Process: target groups, selection of the components, documentation before vs. after

• Tool selection: popular options, their strengths and weaknesses, typical challenges

• Evaluation of documentation: Review of standard conformity vs. usability