In cloud-native development, architectural decisions shape how systems scale, evolve, and perform over time. Yet, in many organizations, key design choices are buried in Slack threads, hallway conversations, or undocumented meetings. Over time, this creates risk, slows onboarding, and weakens accountability.

Architecture decision records (ADRs) address this challenge. Within an architecture-as-code (AaC) approach, ADRs move beyond static documentation. They become structured, traceable assets that support governance, alignment, and operational clarity. To realize their full value, teams need to manage them through a clear and disciplined lifecycle.

The four stages of architectural decision management

A strong ADR is not written once and forgotten. It moves through defined stages that reflect its authority and relevance. Every ADR should carry an explicit lifecycle status:

Proposed
The decision is drafted and shared for review. It is open to feedback, refinement, or rejection based on architectural and domain input.

Accepted
The ADR is reviewed by domain architects and platform owners, and, if approved, becomes the reference point for implementation.

Superseded
When a new decision replaces an existing one, the earlier ADR is retained and marked as superseded. This preserves historical context and maintains traceability as architecture evolves.

Deprecated
When a technology is retired or a pattern is no longer recommended, the ADR is marked deprecated. It remains in the repository to provide context and prevent reuse.

Why review cycles matter

An accepted decision reflects the business and technical context at a specific point in time. As that context changes, decisions must be revisited.

Modern ADRs include review metadata such as a review_due date, often set at six to 12 months. Automated reminders through GitHub workflows or collaboration tools help ensure that architectural decisions remain aligned with current strategy, compliance requirements, and platform capabilities.

Regular reviews reduce drift and keep architecture intentional rather than accidental.

If ADRs carry status, ownership, and review discipline, the next logical step is to ensure they actively influence how systems are built and deployed. Otherwise, governance remains advisory rather than operational.

From documentation to enforceable governance

At this stage, ADRs are no longer passive documentation. They become authoritative expressions of architectural intent and must directly influence how systems are built and deployed.

In an AaC model, ADRs are linked directly to delivery pipelines. Lifecycle metadata, such as status: accepted, can be integrated with continuous integration / continuous delivery (CI/CD) workflows to:

Prevent deployment based on unapproved or deprecated decisions.
Detect configuration drift by comparing architectural intent with deployed infrastructure.
Provide clear audit trails that show when, why, and by whom decisions were updated.

When ADRs are version-controlled, reviewed through pull requests, and maintained like code, architecture becomes part of the operational system. Teams gain clarity, traceability, and alignment without slowing delivery.

Architecture then functions as a shared, living reference that supports scale, stability, and continuous evolution

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