Towards a dual processing perspective of software architecture decision making

Software architecture research tends to assume or aim for rational approaches to software architecture decision making. Such approaches attempt to search the entire problem space, and to make optimal decisions based on enduring goals. The assumption here is that rational approaches are unilaterally desirable, and that intuitive approaches relying on experience and 'gut feeling' always lead to reasoning errors. However, newer research is showing us that this assumption is misguided. Evidence from fields such as cognitive psychology, general management, and new product development has shown that using intuition during certain stages of the design process leads to more creative ideas, and may result in better and faster decision making during design activities. Therefore, by disparaging or ignoring intuition in software design, we are potentially missing out on an opportunity to improve software architecture decision making, by using intuition in contexts where it is appropriate and useful. Thus, this paper outlines the case for investigating the combination of intuition with rationality in software architecture decision making.