> Ensures that [[Decision making|decisions]] are made **transparently** and systematically and **can be reviewed** during the life cycle of the software
^definition
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## [[Impact-oriented decision making]]
Bridge the gap by documenting technical decisions in a way that business stakeholders can understand
![[Impact-oriented decision making#^parts|The Ws of Impact-oriented decision making]]
## Problems without ADRs
Decisions made by previous teams or architects may be forgotten, leading to repeated discussions or redundant work.
- [[Knowledge management]]
- [[Decisions and Single source of truth]]
- [[Team collaboration]]
- [[Decisions and Onboarding]]
- [[Decisions and Tribal knowledge]]
- [[Decisions and Impact on other teams]]
- [[Decisions and Process quality]]
- [[Tech debt]] accumulation
- [[Decisions and Change and Refactorization]]
## Templates
- https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/architecture-decision-record?tab=readme-ov-file#adr-example-templates
## Practices
Decompose decisions if needed
> Break one decision into multiple if an architectural decision is going to result in multiple phases, such as short-term, mid-term, long-term approaches. Log each phase as its own decision record.
#todo works in similar manner as [[User Story Splitting]]