Reflection Questions
These questions are most useful when answered in writing before a
team discussion, or when used as a retrospective prompt after a decision
has been made.
- Think of the last significant technical disagreement in your team.
Was it about correctness or preference? How long did it take to identify
which?
- Where in your architecture is there a decision that was made by
authority rather than by analysis? Is the tradeoff documented? Is the
dissenting view recorded?
- When did your team last use “disagree and commit” genuinely — where
the dissenting engineer implemented the decision as if it were their
own? What made it genuine?
- What recurring technical disagreement in your organisation has not
been resolved because the tradeoff has not been named? What is the
tradeoff?
Design: Take a current or recent technical
disagreement in your organisation. Classify it (factual, value, or
architectural). Write the ADR that resolves it: name the AT codes both
parties were optimising for, state which AT is more appropriate for this
system’s current context and why, name the FM exposure each option
creates, and specify the condition under which the decision should be
revisited.