"Why did we choose this framework again?" - a question heard too often in development teams.
When working on complex projects, architectural decisions can quickly be forgotten or misunderstood.
Even decisions made just months ago can become unclear without proper documentation.
Archtecture Decision Records, or ADRs solve this problem by capturing the context and consequences of architectural choices. Each record documents:
- The specific architectural decision.
- The context and the problems it addresses.
- The consequences and trade-offs considered.
- The current status of the decision.
I've found ADRs particularly valuable when onboarding new team members or revisiting old projects.
They provide clear insights into why certain choices were made and help prevent the same discussions from happening repeatedly.
The best part about ADRs is their simplicity. A basic template, version control, and consistent updates are all you need.
They don't require complex tools or extensive documentation processes.
💡 While ADRs might seem like extra work initially, they can save a team countless hours of discussions and prevent many misunderstandings about architectural choices.
If you're not using ADRs yet, I strongly recommend trying them out.
Your future self (or your colleagues) will thank you. 📝
https://adr.github.io/ad-practices/ is a nice resource that gathers info from multiple different sources. Great if you'd like to learn more.
Otherwise, just registering the 4 key info points listed above is enough to get started.
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