Markdown template for Architecture Decision Records (ADRs). Here's the template...
- Each ADR is a plain text, 1-2 page document
- ADRs should be numbered
- ADRs should be stored within each software project repo
- Create a separate repo for crosscutting ADRs
- Track ADRs in the backlog
- Review ADRs
- Create ADRs for significant design decisions
- This template is a suggestion that you may want to adopt or adapt. In any case, establishing and sharing a template for ADRs in your team or organization is a good idea.
- Use of the BFF pattern
- Use CQRS
- Use AWS as cloud provider
- Use Payment Gateway in self-hosted mode
- Use the Wrapper pattern
(These examples are project-specific, of course. The decision and rationale make sense in that project's context.)
This template is based on:
- Documenting Architecture Decisions. Blog post by Michael Nygard, 2011.
- Architecture Decision Records in Action. SATURN 2017 presentation by Michael Keeling and Joe Runde.
See also this presentation by Ken Power at OOP.
- This template addresses a subtle yet fundamental deficiency of the ADR structure originally proposed by Michael Nygard:
his proposed structure (Context; Decision; Status; Consequences) has no evident placeholder for the rationale behind the design decision. - The justification, the rationale, the "why" behind the design decision should stand out as a separate section in the
template for at least three reasons:
- It is remarkably important! (Authors cited further below agree.)
- A separate section reminds the author of the ADR that that information must be captured.
- The rationale section avoids cluttering other sections with rationale discussion. Devs may reference the ADRs several times to re-read the decision and consequences. They need to read the rationale just once, so rationale should not be mixed in the other sections.
- Mark Richards and Neal Ford say "Why is more important than how" is the Second Law of Software Architecture (Fundamentals of Software Architecture).
- We say in our book "Record Rationale" is Rule 5 of the Seven Rules for Sound Documentation (Documenting Software Architectures, Second Edition).
- George Fairbanks proposed Architecture Haiku, which can be seen as an alternative approach to ADR. Haiku contents includes "design rationales".
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