About Architectural Decision Records
Architectural Decision Records is a reference site about recording architecture decisions. It covers the motivation, a common vocabulary and the templates that teams use to keep a record of why a design was chosen.
What it does
The site explains what an architectural decision is and why it is worth writing down. It describes how each architecture decision record captures a single decision along with its rationale, trade-offs and consequences. The collection of records in a project forms a decision log, and the site links to templates, capturing tools and public articles on the subject.
Key features
- Definitions of architectural decisions and requirements
- Guidance on capturing decisions as they are made
- Templates for writing decision records
- Links to tools that help capture decisions
- Pointers to public articles and books on the topic
Who it's for
Software architects, tech leads and development teams that want a shared way to record why they made technical choices. It is useful for teams that work in agile or iterative processes and want decisions to survive staff changes.
Pricing and good to know
The site is a reference guide and does not require installing any software. It is maintained through a GitHub organization that aims to motivate decision capturing and to strengthen the tooling around it. The material covers architectural knowledge management more broadly, so it is worth reading the motivation section before adopting a template.
Highlights
- Defines architectural decisions and requirements
- Explains how to capture decisions as a log
- Provides templates for decision records
- Links to tools for capturing decisions
- Points to articles and books on the topic
