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Large systems and architecture

publish date: 2026/05/29 08:22:40.516873 UTC

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For large, complex, long-lifetime systems, incremental development faces particular challenges.

Why is a stable architecture especially important in such systems?

Different teams need clearly defined responsibilities with respect to a shared architecture.

Architecture is irrelevant for large systems.

Each team should define its own architecture independently with no coordination.

Architecture should be discovered only after all increments are complete.

Different teams need clearly defined responsibilities with respect to a shared architecture.

A stable architecture provides a framework within which teams can work independently while ensuring that their components integrate correctly.

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 9th edition