architecture-decision-records

Architecture decision records document major technical choices by capturing context, alternatives, rationale, and consequences in a structured format. This preserves decision history so engineering teams can easily review trade-offs and understand past reasoning.

Managing lifecycle status involves tracking architecture decisions through phases like proposed, accepted, deprecated, superseded, or rejected. This maintains reviewable engineering governance and links related decisions together over time.

Create an architecture decision record when selecting a database, framework, or integration pattern to ensure design trade-offs and technical governance are preserved. It records the context and consequences of major engineering choices for future review.

You can document deprecation decisions and technology selection rationale in an ADR. The structured format applies to recording context, alternatives considered, and the expected consequences of these technical governance choices.

Structure an ADR by explicitly capturing the context, alternatives considered, the final decision rationale, and expected consequences. This ensures the technical governance document links related decisions and maintains lifecycle status.