Architecture First

One of the WalkerRoyce Top 10 SoftwareManagementPrinciples...

"An early focus on the architecture results in a solid foundation for the 20% of the stuff (requirements, components, use cases, risks, errors) that drives the overall success of the project. Getting the architecturally important components to be well understood and stable before worrying about the complete breadth and depth of the artifacts should result in scrap and rework rates that decrease or remain stable over the project life cycle."

This is probably very good advice -- if you're *not* doing XP. -- JeffGrigg

I don't think this true. XP just addresses architecture differently. It's still true that the sooner you have a working framework to build on, the more stable your system will be. Have a look at ExtremeProgrammingMetaphorVsArchitecture.

Please take a look at WhatIsArchitectureAnyway for a solid definition before beginning any discussion about architecture. It really helps to know what one is talking about before speaking.

See: CanAnArchitectureEmerge, ArchitectureDefinitions