Architectural Drift

Learned in SE464.

Architectural drift is the introduction of principal design decisions into a system’s descriptive architecture that:

• are not included in, encompassed by, or implied by the prescriptive architecture,
• but which do not violate any of the prescriptive architecture’s design decisions.

Drift is the softer form of architectural degradation: changes that aren’t anticipated but don’t actively break the intended architecture. Over time, unchecked drift accumulates and makes the descriptive architecture harder to reconcile with the prescriptive one.

Related

• Architectural Erosion: the harder form, where design decisions actually violate the prescriptive architecture
• Architectural Recovery
• Software Architecture