For more information

Introduction:

• Architectural decision (wikipedia.org)

• Architecturally significant requirements (wikipedia.org)

Templates:

• Documenting architecture decisions - Michael Nygard (thinkrelevance.com)

• Markdown Architectural Decision Records (adr.github.io)

• Template for documenting architecture alternatives and decisions (stackoverflow.com)

In-depth:

• ADMentor XML project (github.com)

• Architectural Decision Guidance across Projects: Problem Space Modeling, Decision Backlog Management and Cloud Computing Knowledge (ifs.hsr.ch)

• The Decision View’s Role in Software Architecture Practice (computer.org)

• Documenting Software Architectures: Views and Beyond (resources.sei.cmu.edu)

• Architecture Decisions: Demystifying Architecture (utdallas.edu)

• ThoughtWorks Technology Radar: Lightweight Architecture Decision Records (thoughtworks.com)

• A Skeptic’s Guide to Software Architecture Decisions (infoq.com)

• Architectural Decisions — The Making Of

• Architectural Retrospectives: the Key to Getting Better at Architecting

• Software Architecture Monday with Mark Richards - free monthly software architecture lesson

• Solution Architecture Decisions - By Gareth Morgan

• “Keep the Why: Code Becomes Legacy When Nobody Remembers Why”

Tools:

• Command-line tools for working with Architecture Decision Records

• Command line tools with python - by Victor Sluiter

• Architectural Design Decision Support Framework (ADvISE)

• Decision Guardian

• Mneme HQ - ADR enforcement for AI coding agents

• Keep the Why - a repo-native convention and agent skill that continuously captures, or retrospectively recovers, the reasoning behind a codebase

• ADR Guard - GitHub Action that fails a pull request changing watched code without an architecture decision record

• kgai - append-only decision log for AI coding agents, a machine-readable companion to ADR files

Company-Specific Guidance:

• Amazon: AWS Prescriptive Guidance: ADR Process

• GitHub: ADR GitHub organization

• RedHat: Why you should use ADRs

Examples:

• Repository of Architecture Decision Records made for the Arachne Framework

Videos:

• An introduction to arc42 with Savvas Kleanthous

• The C4 model for visualising software architecture - by Simon Brown

Podcasts:

• Software Architecture Bookclub Podcast

Books:

• Software Architecture Metrics: Case Studies to Improve the Quality of Your Architecture - by Christian Ciceri, Dave Farley, Neal Ford, Andrew Harmel-Law, Michael Keeling and Carola Lilienthal

• Software Systems Architecture: Working With Stakeholders Using Viewpoints and Perspectives - by Nick Rozanski and Eoin Woods

• Software Architecture in Practice (SEI Series in Software Engineering)

• Documenting Software Architectures: Views and Beyond (SEI Series in Software Engineering)

• The Software Architect Elevator: Redefining the Architect’s Role in the Digital Enterprise

• Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach - by Mark Richards and Neal Ford

• Building Evolutionary Architectures - by Neal Ford, Rebecca Parsons, Patrick Kua, Pramod Sadalage

• Foundations of Decision Analysis by Ronald Howard and Ali Abbas

• Head First Software Architecture - by Raju Gandhi, Neal Ford and Mark Richards

• Communication Patterns: A Guide for Developers and Architects - by Jacqui Read

See also:

• REMAP (Representation and Maintenance of Process Knowledge)

• DRL (Decision Representation Language)

• IBIS (Issue-Based Information System)

• QOC (Questions, Options, and Criteria)

• IBM’s e-Business Reference Architecture Framework

• Decision Reasoning Format (DRF) - A vendor-neutral, machine-readable YAML/JSON format for representing decisions with explicit reasoning, assumptions, cognitive state, and trade-offs. Complements ADRs by adding structured, validatable reasoning to decision documentation.