Context. Own experiences and faulty decisions can be an important source of information for software architects. The experiences and mistakes of other architects can also be valuable information sources. Goal. Under the assumption that the knowledge about faulty decisions, i.e., mistakes, regarding software architecture is not shared adequately in practice, this work qualitatively investigates the handling and particularly communication of those mistakes by software architects. Method. We conducted a grounded-theory study in which we interviewed ten German software architects from various domains. Results. We identified software architects' definitions of architectural mistakes, their handling of these mistakes, and their preferred communication strategies regarding these mistakes. We found that architects communicate mistakes mainly within their project teams and seldom within or across companies. Conclusions. We derived strategies to make learning and prevention of mistakes more effective. To share experiences and knowledge beyond architects' peer groups, companies should invest more effort in discussing mistakes more consciously and create an environment where mistakes can be discussed openly.

翻译：背景。自身经验和错误决策可能成为软件架构师的重要信息来源。其他架构师的经验和错误同样具有价值。目标。基于软件架构错误决策（即错误）的知识在实践中未得到充分分享的假设，本研究定性探讨了软件架构师对这些错误的处理方式，尤其是沟通方式。方法。我们采用扎根理论方法，访谈了来自不同领域的十位德国软件架构师。结果。我们识别了架构师对架构错误的定义、处理方式以及偏好的沟通策略。研究发现，架构师主要在其项目团队内沟通错误，很少在团队内或跨公司进行交流。结论。我们推导出使学习和错误预防更有效的策略。为超越架构师的同行群体分享经验和知识，公司应投入更多精力更自觉地讨论错误，并营造可公开讨论错误的环境。