Section 11
Decision Records
On this page
11.1 Format and storage #
Binding decisions must be recorded as numbered, immutable Decision Records in the same Project Record as the artifacts they govern, each Decision Record a discrete, separately addressable artifact. Each record must state the context; the options considered, with the trade-offs of each; the decision; its rationale and the trade-offs accepted; its consequences; and its confirmation: how compliance with the decision will be verified. [GP-60]
11.2 Fixed status vocabulary #
Each Decision Record must carry a status drawn from one fixed vocabulary: proposed, accepted, deprecated, superseded. A reversed decision is never deleted or rewritten; a new record supersedes it with a pointer to the old. [GP-60]
11.3 Significance test #
Only decisions that pass a declared significance test warrant a Decision Record. The test must be stated in the Entry Point (§14.3). [GP-60]
11.4 Consultation and single home #
Before any architecture-affecting change, the Executor must consult the relevant Decision Records. Decision Records are the single home for the options considered and the rationale of a binding decision; every other document points to them instead of restating them. [GP-60; GP-79]