\section{Recommendations}

\FigureImposeWidth{HMPArecommendations}{Summary of recommendations to manage platform architectures}
{.7\textwidth}

Figure~\ref{fig:HMPArecommendations} summarizes the recommendations to manage platform architectures.
We traverse in the opposite direction of the description in this paper.
Identification of the {\it key drivers} is the first step in understanding the essence from market point of view.
The key drivers are used to define the platform {\it scope}; a well defined scope provides focus to
the development organization.
The process of developing a platform requires special attention for frequent and to-the-point feedback
from the business and the market.
The time dimension emphasizes the many different rhythms in product and platform development and the dynamics
of both application and technology. The recommendation to cope with rhythms and dynamics is to
stimulate evolutionary approaches and to invest sufficiently in continuous refactoring of the architecture.
Also {\it agile} life-cycle decoupling facilitates the different rhythms and dynamics.
For the platform itself it is important to understand the versatility and the heterogeneity involved.
Platform development should avoid dogmatic unification, instead recognition of heterogeneous solution
results in more robust platform development.
The overall activities described so far require a few skilled and artful architects.
Artful means creative, open minded, humans; the complexity and dynamics of the context does not allow
for mechanistic or dogmatic solutions.
Satisfying all of the recommendations will help to create nice, innovative and successful products!

