Outcome-First ADR

A low-ceremony format for async decisions: outcome, decision, primary tradeoff, why, and decision boundaries. Skimmable for action, detailed for traceability.

Format

The top four sections (status, outcome, decision, primary tradeoff) should be very short. Decision boundaries (impacted, not impacted, assumptions, guardrails) clarify scope.

Use Outcome-First when the decision needs to be reviewed, challenged, or understood quickly by an async team. Use Compare formats to see how it relates to other ADR shapes.

Markdown template

# ADR-0001: <short title>

## Status
Proposed | Accepted | Rejected | Superseded

## Outcome
<what this decision is trying to make true>

## Decision
<the concrete technical choice>

## Primary tradeoff
<the main cost, risk, or limitation we knowingly accept>

## Why
- <reason 1>
- <reason 2>
- <reason 3>

## Decision boundaries

Impacted:
- <systems, teams, interfaces, workflows, runtime behavior, ownership, or constraints affected>

Not impacted:
- <systems, teams, interfaces, workflows explicitly not changed>

Assumptions:
- <what must remain true for this decision to hold>

Guardrails:
- <ownership, rollback rules, SLOs, tests, rollout limits, or constraints that keep the decision safe>

Open generator with this format preselected (also persisted in local storage on this site).