Feature velocity without decision memory creates the same debate every quarter. Architecture decision records (ADRs) are how we make tradeoffs durable and how embedded teams avoid rebuilding context from Slack archaeology.
When stakeholders change, the ADR still explains why the system looks the way it does.
Week-one discipline
In the first week of an embed we capture the constraints that already exist: compliance, latency budgets, ownership boundaries, and non-goals. New ADRs are short: context, decision, consequences. They live next to the code that depends on them.
When stakeholders change, the ADR still explains why the system looks the way it does and what would have to be true to change it. That is how you ship features without feature theater.
What we refuse to ADR
Implementation trivia, ticket-level choices, and reversible naming debates. If a decision does not constrain future work or spending, it stays in the PR. ADRs earn their keep by surviving the next reorg.
