Breaking the Documentation Cycle: Architecture Decisions That Stick

Most teams overlook that an unread ADR is worse than no documentation at all—it creates false confidence while critical institutional knowledge exists only in engineers' heads. The Consequences section is crucial for preventing future conflicts; it must document what was explicitly deprioritized so future engineers understand decisions without asking the original team. By anchoring ADRs in your repository rather than external tools like Confluence, you ensure technical decisions remain accessible and relevant as your codebase evolves.