SYSE.6:2 - Problem

Without a bounded architecture decision, local choices become a de facto architecture. Contributors—for example, component suppliers, software teams, construction specialists, operators, safety specialists, or providers of supporting Systems—each optimize their own structure. Their decisions can be individually reasonable and jointly incompatible. Burdens such as interface, placement, configuration, assurance, or affected-System consequences appear only during integration or operation.

An oversized architecture decision causes the opposite failure. It fixes low-level details without the local knowledge needed to choose them, substitutes centralized approval for specialist contribution, and makes every revision look like a whole-project exception. A broad quality catalogue or one score does not solve the problem: characteristics have different bearers, Scales, conditions, evidence, and protected losses.

A decision record can hide both failures. A file can be complete while the candidate basis is narrow, accepted losses are absent, the selected structure is unclear, or no observation can reopen the decision. Engineers then preserve documentation instead of maintaining a current engineering choice.