The software engineering community has paid a lot of attention to the study of non-functional requirements (NFRs). Along time, framing NFRs into an articulated framework has become an elusive target. As a consequence, prac-titioners usually integrate NFRs in the different system life-cycle activities in an ad-hoc manner. In this work, we summarise the results of a recent empirical study involving 13 software architects from the Spanish. These results serve as the basis for discussion about possible ways to bridge the gap between academics and practitioners in the management of NFRs.