Reusable Layer Diagrams from the Microsoft Architecture Guide

Here is an extension package containing five layer diagrams from the Microsoft Architecture Guide for use in Visual Studio 2010 projects.

The layers supported are:

• Web Application
• Rich Client Application
• Rich Internet Application
• Services Application
• Mobile Application

After installing them, they become available for Layer Diagrams on the Toolbox.

Back of the Napkin visualization

Here is a great presentation over the power of visualization, by Dan Roam. It's a great watch for every architect. The best I found his framework for choosing the visualization technique to go with the kind of problem, as shown in this picture taken from his presentation.

TOGAF 9 Templates

Here is a set of templates for TOGAF 9 deliverables, made publicly available on the website of the OpenGroup. It includes templates for:

• Architecture Definition Document
• Architecture Principles
• Architecture Vision
• Business Scenarios
• Request for Architecture Work
• Requirements Impact Assessment
• Statement of Architecture Work

It comes as a zipped set of Microsoft Word documents (doc and dot files).

Tips for a Good Architecture Document

I found this post from Michael Stal with a very nice overview of attributes a really good architecture document should have. Nothing new on it. But it makes a handy list of checkpoints.