Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon

Quality Attribute Workshops

Mario R. Barbacci
Robert Ellison
Judith A. Stafford
Charles B. Weinstock
William G. Wood

Technical Report
CMU/SEI-2001-TR-010

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Quality Attribute Workshops (QAW) provide a method for evaluating a software-intensive system architecture during the acquisition phase of major programs. The architecture is evaluated against a number of critical quality attributes, such as availability, performance, security, interoperability, and modifiability. The evaluation is based on scenarios that capture questions and concerns elicited from various stakeholders. In this paper, we provide a rationale for developing the process and describe it in detail. We follow this with a list of lessons learned and discuss how these lessons have helped us evolve the process to its current state.