arc42: Effective, lean and pragmatic architecture documentation and communication

arc42 offers a clear, simple and effective structure to document and communicate your software system.

image-left Compare the arc42 sections to the drawers of a cabinet. arc42 contains 12 such drawers, each one specialized to hold a specific kind of information about the architecture of a system.

arc42 is optimized for understandability and adequacy. It naturally guides you to explain any kind of architecture information or decision in an understandable way.

arc42 supports ANY kind of system or project

arc42 supports your style of working, your domain and your technology. Apply it in agile, lean or formal projects - you decide.

Documentation

Why arc42?: What problems does arc42 solve?
One Minute Overview: arc42 illustrated on a single page.
Five Minute Introduction (to be done)
Overview of the sections
Full documentation (on our website docs.arc42.org)

Overview of the arc42 sections

1. Requirements and Goals	7. Deployment View
2. Constraints	8. Crosscutting Concepts
3. Scope & Context	9. Architecture Decisions
4. Solution Strategy	10. Quality Scenarios
5. Building Block View	11. Risks & Technical Debt
6. Runtime View	12. Glossary

Painless documentation

arc42 users like the understandability, that mainly results from its standardized structure.

But what they really love is the manageable effort it takes to create and maintain arc42-based architecture documentation. We call it “painless documentation”, using the arc42 template does not require additional effort:

You only describe things that your stakeholders really have to know.
You explain facts and issues that are necessary to understand the system or individual design decisions.
You only keep track of important architecture decision that you had to make anyhow.

Get it!

You want aweseome communication/documentation support for your system or your next project:

Download.

Learn more!

arc42 offers architecture training.

Two expert trainers at all times, highly practical and pragmatic, ideal preparation for iSAQB CPSA-Foundation certification. Depending on the COVID-19 situation, some workshops might be conducted online/remote.
Next available dates (in German):