Stage 4 · Summary

Summary, revision, and practice

A short recap stage for fast recall, scenario drilling, and a cleaner next-step plan. Covers 17+ key concepts across 3 stages and 15 assessment domains with 45 practice questions.

This summary uses TOGAF as supporting context. The dedicated TOGAF-led path on this site is the Enterprise Architecture course.

Architecture as a decision-evidence-governance loop

Six stages turn stakeholder context into recorded decisions, then test those decisions against the system in production.

Architecture is a continuous decision-evidence-governance loop Two coordinated views. The top view is a six-row vertical stack of spine stages Context, Boundaries, Trade-offs, Decision, Evidence, Governance with a citation per row. The Decision row is emphasised in brand red because the ADR is the primary artefact. The bottom view is the cyclical flow: six cards joined by labelled arrows with a dashed feedback arrow looping from Governance back to Context labelled 'evidence reopens the loop'. SIX STAGES · ARCHITECTURE DECISION SPINE 01 Context Stakeholders, drivers, constraints, options Bass et al. 2021 §1.1 02 Boundaries Modules, services, interfaces, ownership Parnas 1972 03 Trade-offs Quality attributes weighed and measured ISO/IEC 25010:2023 04 Decision Recorded with options, context, consequences Nygard 2011 05 Evidence Tests, metrics, traces test it in production Google SRE 2016 06 Governance Reviewed, accepted, superseded, or retired Open Group TOGAF 10 THE LOOP · EVIDENCE REOPENS EACH STAGE 01Context 02Boundaries 03Trade-offs 04Decision 05Evidence 06Governance frames expose select tested by informs evidence reopens the loop built by ransfordsnotes.com

The spine repeats: every operating signal can promote, supersede, or revisit a decision. Source: Bass, Clements, Kazman, Software Architecture in Practice, 4th ed., 2021.

Quick recall

Test what you remember

Each card shows a concept prompt. Click to reveal the answer. If you can recall the answer before flipping, move on. If not, that topic needs revision.

Foundations
Applied
Practice & Strategy
Scenario drills

Practice by domain

Expand any domain to run 3 quick scenario questions with instant feedback. Domains you struggle with are the ones to revisit in the course modules.

Next steps

Assess and certify

When you feel confident, take the practice assessment (untimed, with feedback) or the stage test (timed, pass/fail). Both contribute to your CPD evidence record.

Foundations
Practice assessment →Stage test →
Applied
Practice assessment →Stage test →
Practice & Strategy
Practice assessment →Stage test →
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