DeciCollab is a short and impactful name that emphasizes both the decision-making process and the collaborative nature of the project. Here's how you could further position DeciCollab:
- Transparent System Architecture documentation:
- System architecture is in a constant state of evolution and can only be effectively shaped through a sustainable and adaptive change process. Quality requirements and priorities are subject to significant fluctuations over time, necessitating flexible and forward-thinking strategies. One of the most impactful shifts is adopting a transparency-focused approach by thoroughly documenting your architecture and the technical debt associated with your decisions.
- Core Focus:
- DeciCollab is a repository designed to streamline and document the ideas how architecture decisions made within a collaborative environment. Whether it's architectural choices, technical debt, or strategic product decisions, this repository serves as the central hub for all decision-related discussions.
- Collaborative Element:
- The name “Collab” points directly to the importance of inclusivity and communication across multiple teams and inside a small team. It implies an open, transparent process where all stakeholders—developers, product owners, architects, and other team members—have a voice in the architetecture decision-making.
- Streamlining Decision Tracking:
- By using DeciCollab, teams can document decisions through structured templates (such as Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) and Technichal Dept Records (TDRs)) that include the rationale behind decisions, trade-offs, and impacts. This helps everyone keep track of past decisions, especially for complex projects or systems.
- Optimized for Iteration:
- The ADRs and TDRs encourages frequent revisiting and updating of decisions as the project evolves, so it fits well in environments where constant adaptation and improvements are necessary.
Possible Features for the Repository:
- Define a Innersource Pattern for ADRs/TDRs:
- Reference Tools and Tipps of architectural and technical debt decisions.
- Discuss the role of RFCs and why ADR's so important.
- Documentation of Decisions:
- Use Architecture Decision Records (ADR) and Technical Debt Records (TDR) to document decisions and trade-offs made across teams or your system.
- Collaborative Input:
- Encourage cross-team contributions, with discussions around decisions to ensure diverse perspectives are considered.
- Transparent Process:
- Maintain clear, open documentation that allows anyone in the organization to review, understand, and participate in ongoing decisions.
- Iteration and Updates:
- Continuously refine decisions as the project evolves, using feedback loops and keeping all documentation up-to-date.
- Decentralized Ownership:
- Support shared ownership of decisions, ensuring teams contribute to and benefit from each other’s insights and expertise.
To fully understand ADRs we need to define some extra terms:
- Architecturally Significant Requirements (ASR):
- This is the change that demands an alteration to our system architecture. An example might be we need to have our application send emails to users.
- Architecture Decision (AD):
- The decision you make on how to address your ASR. In our example we may have decided to migrate form a classical OnPrime VMs to Cloud Based Kubernetes.
- or Architectural Design Decisions (ADDs)
- Architecture Decision Record (ADR):
- Document this decision.
- Architecture Decision Log (ADL):
- The collection of ADRs representing.
- Define Searchable content.
- Architecture Knowledge Management (AKM):
- The practice of systematically capturing, organizing, and sharing architectural decisions, rationale, and insights to ensure clarity, alignment, and reusability across teams and projects.
- or Software architecture knowledge management (SAKM)
- Architecture Decision Process (ADP):
- The Proecess of creation, adpotion and inspection of the ADs
The first formulation of pattern:
- Request for comments - Document Architecture Decisions Pattern
- ADR Template
- Documents with Record FAQ
- AWS ADR Process
Reference to Innersource Patterns:
Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) are concise, structured documents used to capture key decisions made during software architecture development. Each ADR outlines the context, alternatives, rationale, and consequences of a specific decision.
An ADR includes:
- Title: A clear description of the decision.
- Context: Background information and relevant constraints.
- Decision: The choice made.
- Alternatives: Options considered, with reasons for rejection.
- Consequences: Impact of the decision, both positive and negative.
ADRs ensure traceability, transparency, and alignment among stakeholders, helping teams understand and revisit past decisions as the system evolves.
arc42 is a proven and practical framework for documenting and communicating software and system architectures. It provides a template that guides architects through systematically capturing essential aspects of an architecture, such as goals, requirements, constraints, solution building blocks, and runtime behavior.
Documenting Architecture as Code is an approach that treats software architecture documentation like source code—version-controlled, automated, and integrated into development workflows.
Key Principles:
- Automation & Version Control – Store architecture docs in repositories, enabling collaboration and history tracking.
- Single Source of Truth – Keep documentation up to date with the system by embedding it in the development process.
- Executable & Testable – Use tools like C4 Model, Structurizr, or AsciiDoc to generate diagrams and ensure consistency.
- Integration with CI/CD – Automate documentation updates as part of the deployment pipeline.
This approach ensures that architecture documentation is always relevant, consistent, and evolves with the system, reducing outdated or siloed information.
The Software Architecture Canvas is a structured framework for designing and documenting software architectures. It provides a holistic view by covering key aspects such as business goals, quality attributes, constraints, and technical decisions.
The Open Decision Framework is a collaborative methodology used to make transparent, inclusive, and well-informed decisions. It emphasizes open communication, diverse stakeholder engagement, and iterative feedback throughout the decision-making process.
The Request for Comments (RFC) method is a collaborative approach to gather feedback and insights on a specific topic, proposal, or idea. It involves sharing a statement or document with stakeholders and inviting their input to ensure clarity, address concerns, and incorporate diverse perspectives.
A really good RFC collaborations pattern still exists:
- Transparent Cross-Team Decision Making using RFCs
- Is ADR and TDRs practical tools or a relevant separate pattern?
- RFC Definition
- Differences between RFCs and ADRs
How you decide architecture decisions?
flowchart TD
A1@{ shape: f-circ, label: "Start" } --> A2(Do you have a problem?)
A2 -- Yes --> A3{Is there a blessed solution?}
A3 -- Yes --> A4{Is it documented?}
A4 -- No --> A5(Write an ADR!)
A3 -- No --> A6{Do you have a solution?}
A6 -- Yes -->A7{Is it a big change?}
A7 -- Yes --> A8(Write a RFC!)
A5 --> A12{More significant effects?}
A12 -- Yes --> A11(Write an TDR!)
A12 -- No --> A10
A8 --> A9{Did the RFC conclude with a solution?}
A9 -- Yes --> A5
A7 -- No --> A5
A11 --> A10@{ shape: f-circ, label: "END" }
classDef state fill:#f96,stroke:#f66,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff,stroke-dasharray: 5 5
class A11,A5,A8 state;
Picture 4: Architecture decision record flow diagram
Technical Debt Records (TDRs) are a structured approach to documenting and managing technical debt within software projects. They provide a standardized format to record instances of technical debt, including details such as the nature of the debt, its implications, and strategies for resolution. Implementing TDRs enhances transparency, facilitates better decision-making, and aids in prioritizing technical debt remediation efforts.
The Technology Radar is a bi-annual publication that provides insights into emerging technologies, tools, techniques, and platforms shaping the tech landscape. It categorizes items into Adopt, Trial, Assess, and Hold, offering actionable advice to guide technology adoption and innovation strategies. The Radar serves as a valuable resource for organizations and developers to evaluate trends, stay informed, and make informed decisions in a rapidly evolving ecosystem.
Examples:
- Architectural Decision - AD
- Architecture Desision Records: How and why use ADRs?
- Architecture decision record (ADR) - Joel Parker Henderson
- Realy good references and documentation
- Architectural Decisions — The Making Of
- ADR Hub
- ADRs—Explicit Decisions For Better And Faster Software
- Architecture Principles: An approach to effective decision making in software architecture
- Architecting Success: A Comprehensive Guide to Robust Architecture Decision Records#
- AWS - Architectural Decision Process
- Documenting architecture decisions
- Documenting Design Decisions using RFCs and ADRs
- Design- Practice Pepository
- How to write effective documentation for your open source project
- How to Write Requests for Comments (RFCs) and Architecture Decision Reviews (ADRs)
- Improve your IT landscape with Architecture Decision Records (ADR)
- Inverse Conway Maneuver
- ISO/IEC 25010 - Quality of Software
- Learnings from using ADR in a real project
- Open Decision Framework
- Requests for Comments
- SAP- Cross Product Architecture
- Software Architecture Documentation Starter with arc42 and C4 Model
- Sustainable Architectural Design Decisions
- Technical Debt Records Idea
- The Markdown ADR (MADR) Template Explained and Distilled
- The Software Architecture Canvas: An Efficient and Collaborative Way to Define Your Software Architecture Playground
- Using Architecture Decision Records in Open Source Projects—An MSR Study on GitHub
- When Should I Write an Architecture Decision Record
- Why Every Development Team Needs Architecture Decision Records
- Why you should be using architecture decision records to document your project
- Writes Workshop
- Y-Statements
- 27 Fundamental Techniques for Software Architects
- 30-years-of-rfcs
|-o-| - The Humbled Sign Painter - Peter