Design an Architecture Decision Framework
As a Software Architect, design a framework for making and documenting architectural decisions across multiple teams.
Implement ADRs (Architecture Decision Records), create decision matrices, and establish governance processes.
How do you balance autonomy vs consistency?
Consider how to get buy-in from teams
Think about versioning and evolution
Software Architects must balance technical excellence with organizational constraints and ensure decisions are documented and communicated.
review board
Senior architects review significant decisions
escalation path
When to escalate to CTO/VP Engineering
exception process
How teams can deviate with justification
title
Short descriptive title
status
Proposed/Accepted/Deprecated/Superseded
context
What is the issue motivating this decision?
decision
What is the change being proposed?
consequences
What are the positive and negative outcomes?
- •Ivory tower architecture - decisions without implementation feedback
- •Decision paralysis - over-analysis preventing progress
- •Undocumented decisions - tribal knowledge only
formats
- •ADR repository (Git)
- •Architecture diagrams
- •Tech talks
- •Written RFCs
audience
Engineers, PMs, Leadership - tailor depth accordingly
process
- •Identify stakeholders
- •Gather requirements
- •Evaluate options
- •Document decision
- •Communicate widely
- •Review periodically
criteria
- •Scalability impact
- •Team capability
- •Time to implement
- •Maintenance burden
- •Cost
- •Risk