Six months after a design is signed off, nobody remembers why a key choice was made. Architecture decision records (ADRs) solve that — a lightweight way to capture the reasoning behind your decisions.
An architecture decision record is a short document that captures one significant decision: what was decided, why, and what the alternatives and consequences were.
Decisions without a record get relitigated endlessly, and new team members repeat old mistakes. ADRs preserve the context so the "why" survives staff changes and time.
An ADR should take minutes, not hours. One page per decision, written when the decision is made, stored alongside the design. The discipline of writing it often improves the decision itself.
The Architecture Review Kit includes an architecture decision log (ADRs) alongside the checklist, scorecard, risk register and report — a complete review system.
