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Carnegie Mellon University | Software Engineering Institute

Linda M. Northrop

Software Architecture Award

Past Recipients

2020: Philippe Kruchten, University of British Columbia

The recipient of the 2020 Linda M. Northrop Software Architecture Award is Philippe Kruchten, recently retired from the University of British Columbia. 

Specializing in large, software-intensive systems design, Philippe directed the development of the Rational Unified Process, an iterative software development process framework, and developed the 4+1 Architectural View Model. His contributions as a pioneering practitioner, a thought leader, an author, and an educator have advanced the recognition of software architecture as an important topic for practitioners.

Philippe's webcast titled Software Architecture: A Mature Discipline? is available to watch on-demand.

2019: Software Curriculum@Siemens Healthineers 

The winner of the 2019 award was the Software Curriculum team of Siemens Healthineers. The software curriculum began at Siemens Healthineers in 2006 and focused on the critical role of the software architect of mission-critical, large complex systems. A main focus was on the central role the architect plays in business strategy, requirements, quality, and leadership. At Siemens Healthineers, the curriculum was well anchored in the people-development processes as part of a technical career path and aligned with related training programs. The team made a presentation on their experience and insights at the 2019 SATURN Conference.

2018: Eoin Woods, Endava

The winner of the 2018 award was Eoin Woods of Endava. See his 2018 SATURN Conference presentation on Software Architecture as Systems Dissolve. Wood's practical experience with software engineering, spanning a period of 20 years, and his long-standing involvement with the software architecture community as an author, editor, and speaker exhibit leadership and innovation in the field. As the co-creator of Viewpoints and Perspectives, he extended Philippe Kruchten's 4+1 model of viewpoints for information systems and added the concept of perspectives to advance an approach recognizing that quality properties are cross-cutting.

2017: Ruth Malan, Bredemeyer Consulting

The winner of the 2017 award was Ruth Malan of Bredemeyer Consulting. See her 2017 SATURN Conference presentation on Visual Architecting. Malan's work in co-creating the Visual Architecting Process (VAP) allows architects to focus on minimalist and iterative architecture decisions. The VAP has been instrumental in helping clients of Bredemeyer Consulting transition from using waterfall software development lifecycles to using agile methods and the Scaled Agile Framework in diverse projects that range from small to large multiyear IT transformations. The VAP is now used in hundreds or organizations by thousands of architects.

 

2016: Eltjo Poort, CGI

The winner of the 2016 award was Eltjo Poort of CGI. See his 2016 SATURN Conference presentation on Adapting Architecture Practices to Changing Times. The award committee singled out Poort's development of Risk- and Cost-Driven Architecture (RCDA), an innovative and cohesive approach to software architecture that unites architecture principles from practice, literature, and research. Originally developed for internal use by CGI, RCDA has been adopted by a growing number of organizations and its training program has spread across 10 countries on 5 continents. Today, more than 500 software architects have received extensive training in RCDA.