Introduction

Elaboration is the initial series of iterations during which:

• the majority of requirements are discovered and stabilized

• the major risks are mitigated or retired

• the core architectural elements are implemented and proven

Rarely, the architecture is not a risk—for example, if building a website like others the team has successfully built, with the same tools and similar requirements—in which case, it does not have to be a focus of these early iterations. In that case, critical but non-architecturally significant features or use cases may be implemented.

It is in this phase that the book emphasizes an introduction to OOA/D, applying the UML, patterns, and architecture.