What is intentional architecture?

• A. It fosters team alignment and defines architectural runway
• B. It eliminates collaboration between teams
• C. It delays architectural decisions until after delivery
• D. It requires a single global architecture for all teams

Answer: (A)

Intentional architecture means deliberately planning and evolving the system’s structure with input from architects, engineers, and product partners to guide how features will be built and integrated. It establishes a shared direction so teams understand how their work fits together and can reuse components, interfaces, and standards. This collaborative effort creates the architectural runway—the foundations, patterns, and nonfunctional requirements needed for upcoming work—so delivery is smoother and less prone to rework. By fostering alignment across teams, intentional architecture helps ensure that future features can be implemented efficiently and safely.

The idea that collaboration would be eliminated, decisions postponed until after delivery, or that a single global architecture must exist doesn’t align with this approach. Collaboration is essential, decisions are timed to prevent risk and delay, and teams retain the flexibility to adapt architecture to their context rather than following one monolithic solution.