Christopher Justice · Decision Documentation
ADRs Were Built for a Slower World
A proper ADR takes 30+ minutes to write well. In AI-native development, significant decisions happen multiple times per day. The math doesn't work.
# ADRs Were Built for a Slower World
A proper ADR takes 30+ minutes to write well. In AI-native development, significant decisions happen multiple times per day. The math doesn't work.
Strip it down:
What: [The decision, one sentence] Why: [The reasoning, one sentence] Who: [@person] When: [Date]
That's 30 seconds to write. Captures the essentials. Scales to many decisions per day.
30-second record: Default. Most decisions. Lightweight ADR: Significant decisions with real trade-offs. 10-15 minutes. Full ADR: Rare. Major, hard-to-reverse decisions.
The ratio might be 20:1:0.1. Don't abandon decision documentation. Evolve the format to match the pace.
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