Quality Attribute Workshops (QAWs) provide a method for identifying a system's architecture critical quality attributes, such as availability, performance, security, interoperability, and modifiability, that are derived from mission or business goals. The QAW does not assume the existence of a software architecture. It was developed to complement the SEI Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method (ATAM) in response to customer requests for a method to identify important quality attributes and clarify system requirements before there is a software architecture to which the ATAM could be applied.

In the QAW, an external team facilitates meetings between stakeholders during which scenarios representing the quality attribute requirements are generated, prioritized, and refined (i.e., adding additional details such as the participants and assets involved, the sequence of activities, and questions about quality attributes requirements). The process of refining the scenarios allows stakeholders to communicate among themselves, thereby exposing assumptions that may not have surfaced during requirements elicitation. The refinement also provides insights as to how these attributes interact, forming a basis for making tradeoffs between these attributes.

There may be more than one scenario generation workshop, depending on the number and type of organizations and stakeholders involved in the development, maintenance, or use of the system. The QAW process ends with the list of prioritized, refined scenarios. The refined scenarios can be used in different ways, for example as seed scenarios for ATAM or as test cases in an acquisition effort.

Additional Information

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Software Architecture Training and Publications

Training

Publications

Further Reading

Integrating the Quality Attribute Workshop (QAW) and the Attribute-Driven Design (ADD) Method
Robert L. Nord, William G. Wood, & Paul C. Clements

Quality Attribute Workshops, Third Edition
M. Barbacci, R. Ellison, A. Lattanze, J. Stafford, C. Weinstock, & W. Wood

Use of Quality Attribute Workshops (QAWs) in Source Selection for a DoD System Acquisition: A Case Study
John K. Bergey & William G. Wood