Architecture Decision Records

ADR

Kind: artifact

Layer: Evolution Principles

Aliases: ADRs

Record: architecture:architecture-decision-records

Severity: recommended

Scope: architecture decision

Canonical: Ontology

A formal definition of one architecture decision, recording its context, the choice made and its consequences.

Listed in Architecture principles, after Quality Attributes and before Evolutionary Architecture.

Requires

• Context
• Decision
• Consequences

Reinforces

• Traceability
• Governance

Enables

• Decision History

Conflicts with

• Tribal Knowledge

In tension with

• Documentation Maintenance

Tensions

• Architecture Decision Records (ADR) / Documentation Maintenance

Violated by

• Tribal Knowledge

Refactored by

• Decision Record with Alternatives
• Data Change Audit

Severity

• recommended

Category

• Architecture Review / Evolution / Governance Artifacts

Required by

• Architecture Review

Linked from

• Rules with names
• The structural domain
• A cell that resists an invariant
• Architecture Review / Evolution / Governance Artifacts
• Observability / Auditability / Traceability
• Security / Privacy / Compliance / Governance
• Architecture Review Evolution Governance
• Core Vocabulary
• Observability / Auditability / Traceability
• Severity levels
• The resolutions