Architecture definition process

Architecture definition or architectural design is a process in which are gathered stakeholders's requirements, and the architecture to meet those requirements is designed and described via an architecture description. This process consist of 3 stages which are normally performed iteratively. - Capture stakeholders needs - Making a series of architectural design decisions - Capturing the architectural design decisions made, in an AD 2023061502512222 Architecture description This stages leads to creating architecture which must satisfy stakeholders's needs related functional and architectural(non-functional) requirements.

A good architecture definition process is one that leads to a good architecture, documented by an effective AD and can be realized in a time-efficient cost-effective manner.

Architecture definition isn't just design.
From one side it is software design(solution space), working with developers, from other side it is requirement analysis(problem space). An architect needs to understand the needs of every one who has an interest in the architecture, to balance these needs and identify an acceptable set of tradeoffs between these. 2

You should not start to think about the solution until you understand the problem.

References

1. Software System Architecture Nick Rozanski, Edin Woods (software-systems-architecture-rozanski-woods), p. 56
2. Software System Architecture Nick Rozanski, Edin Woods (software-systems-architecture-rozanski-woods), p. 58