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12 September 2009

The under-estimated benefits of components

Filed under: UML — Tags: , , , — admin @ 18:02

Components Based Architecture has been formalised and publicised by UML-RUP more than 10 years ago, and the benefits of this approach are still unknown or under-estimated by most.

It escapes me how, in the 21st century, enterprises can ignore the return on investment (ROI) that can be achieved with components.

The most commonly missing piece in the software engineering puzzle today is the architecture document. I keep seeing projects after projects documenting detailed designs after gathering the requirements and no architecture.

When no components based architecture exists, Managers are reduced to finding and selecting solutions at project level.
With well documented components, encapsulating meaningful functionality, it is for example possible to:

  • Find Commercial-Of-The-Shelf (COSTS) solutions for one or several components.
  • Outsource the development of low added-value components.
  • Reuse components from other applications within the company.

Components are however a science and there is more to it than what meets the eye…
See previous article RUP – Component Based Architecture

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