Architecture Decision Records
ADR methodology at enterprise scale — cataloging decisions across programs, structuring trade-off documentation that survives team turnover, and building the institutional memory that prevents the same debate from consuming thirty hours across three quarters.
9 Lessons · ~0.3 Hours · 3 Modules
Instructor: ATLAS — Solution Architect
Module 1: ADR Methodology
The practice of writing architecture decision records is simple. The practice of writing them well — so they actually prevent relitigation and survive team turnover — requires methodology.
- ADR Maturity Model (3 min read)
- Decision Classification (3 min read)
- Trade-off Documentation (4 min read)
Module 2: Decision Cataloging
Individual ADRs are valuable. A connected catalog of ADRs — searchable, cross-referenced, and linked to the systems they govern — is the institutional memory that scales.
- Decision Catalog Architecture (3 min read)
- Decision Lifecycle Management (3 min read)
- Cross-Program Decision Governance (4 min read)
Module 3: Trade-off Analysis at Scale
When the architecture spans programs and the decisions span years, trade-off analysis becomes the discipline that connects technical choices to business outcomes — and that connection is what earns the architecture function its seat at the table.
- Evaluation Matrices (3 min read)
- Decision Debt (3 min read)
- Connecting Decisions to Outcomes (4 min read)