  Requirements volatility is a major issue in software development, causing
problems such as higher defect density, project delays and cost overruns.
Software architecture that guides the overall vision of software product, is
one of the areas that is greatly affected by requirements volatility. Since
critical architecture decisions are made based on the requirements at hand,
changes in requirements can result signifiant changes in architecture. With the
wide adoption of agile software development, software architectures are
designed to accommodate possible future changes. However, the changes has to be
carefully managed as unnecessary and excessive changes can bring negative
consequences. An exploratory case study was conducted to study the impact of
requirements volatility on software architecture. Fifteen semi-structured,
thematic interviews were conducted in a European software company. The research
revealed poor communication, information distortion, and external dependencies
as the main factors that cause requirement volatility and inadequate
architecture documentation, inability to trace design rationale, and increased
complexity as the main implications of requirements volatility on software
architecture. Insights from software teams' awareness of the requirement
volatility, factors contribute to it, and possible ways to mitigate its
implications will be utilized to improve the management of requirement
volatility during software architecting process.
