Architecture and design intent in component & COTS based systems

Architecture and design intent are critical elements in the development and evolution of software systems. They are critical in two ways. First, there must be a shared understanding of them to adequately and effectively build and evolve our systems. Second, this shared understanding is needed to coordinate the various developers and teams of developers, especially in evolving our systems. The lack of access to internal implementation details makes the issue of architecture and design intent even more critical in COTS and component based systems. We explore the issues involved in supporting the reification and use of architecture and design intent, discuss a selection of approaches, and present some ideas we have about its use in both planned and agile contexts.