Efficient architecture

Architecture should not only state how parts relate to each other. Architecture should also describe the forces at work and how the particular tradeoff manifested in the selected architecture has been reached. Further more, information on what options has been discarded and why can be more valuable for understanding the solution than any description of relations.

In my opinnion architecture is about communication of the desired and undesired facets of our IT systems. A obscure arbitrary stack of boxes in a powerpoint picture does not realy provide all that much insight.