From WICSA Conference Wiki

Deliverables/Results

Why are ADLs not used in practice?

The opinion of the group was that the main reasons for the lack of adoption were:

• Restrictive
  • They make assumptions that may not match the actual systems
    • eg, functional is all that matters in modern adls, but for some the deployment view is all that works.
• Single Views
• Lack of domain focus
• Lack of a "roll-out" plan
  • Align with trends
  • AKA Technology transfer
• Simple tool support
  • But this is something that a large amount of effort has to go into to encourage people to use

What would we change to make ADLs work?

Again, the balance of opinion of achieving better adoption of ADLs was:

• Specialize generic languages
• Technology transfer
• Linkage to Technology
• Simple tool support
  • Visio, Eclipse and MagicDraw for instance.
    • Tools should support communication amongst the architects and the developers
    • Graphical representation in important: ADLs right now a often textual only
• User studies seem like a good idea
  • Do ADLs actually support parts of the architect's work cycle?
  • Question/Answer sessions between researchers an practicing architects
• Align with trends
  • Get into the existing communication channels
  • Appeal to what the developers/managers are interested in