What is the Architecture Advice Process (And How to Use It)

I get asked a lot for a quick intro to the Architecture Advice Process as well as a Guide How to Use It. While this is the topic of the book, I do understand that the book is 500+ pages.

This then is that guide:

• in the form of slides with extensive notes
• a video of me presenting it at Domain-Driven Design Europe 2026 (to follow)

Additional Material

In the talk I mention a number of things that can heklp you in your adoption of the advice process. Here they are, collected into one handy list:

• Section: The Warm Up
  • Sub-Section: The Landscape
    • My talk on “Variability, The Second Hardest Problem in Systems Architecture”
    • Chapter 1 of my book goes into much greater detail on the place of architecture practice in software delivery
  • Sub-Section: The Central Practice
    • My talk on the many approaches to decision-making at scale in Software, “How We Decide”
    • Chapter 3 of my book goes into the same topic in even greater depth
    • Chapter 4 of my book covers the Architecture Advice Process, including two, in-depth examples of it in action
    • Chapter 7 of my book covers the topic of accountability, and how it is compatible with the Open Group’s Open Agile Architecture (O-AA) framework.
    • The Domain-Driven Design Europe “Everybody” Keynote - this includes a link to the Miro board that in turn links to the raw data we collected
• Section: The Reps
  • Sub-Section: Rep 1 - First Decision
    • The MartinFowler.com page on all kinds of Feature Toggles.
    • Chapter 2 of my book goes into great detail (with examples) on the topic of significant architectural decisions
    • Collaborative Software Design by Evelyne Van Kelle, Gien Verschaste and Kenny Baas
    • Chapter 5 of my book goes into the details of adopting the Architecture Advice Process from various starting points
  • Sub-Section: Rep 2 - Deciding Out in the Open
    • The example ADR - “Use Environment-Variable Release Toggles to Decouple Change Deployments from Feature Releases”
    • With advice but before its been incorporated
    • Advice incorporated and decision taken
    • Chapter 6 of my book goes into great detail on ADR writing, with two worked examples
  • Sub-Section: Rep 3 - Deciding Together
    • Example ADR002 - Shorten Inventory IDs with Nanoid
    • Example ADR003 - Change Subscription Mandates Without Costing the Customer of Company Money
    • Chapter 13 of my book looked in great depth at both the value of, and how to keep decisions small
  • Sub-Section: Rep 4 - Going Official
    • Chapter 8 of my book is all about setting up and running an Architecture Advice Forum (AAF)
    • An example Architecture Advice Forum Terms of Reference
    • A template invite for your first AAF
    • An example AAF standing agenda
    • My talk on Anarchy, “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Anarchy (But Were Afraid to Ask)”
    • My conversation with Eberhard Wolff that goes into even greater depth on the same topic
• Section: Cool Down
  • Sub-Section - System Sensing - The Technical
    • Chapter 9 of my book covers the importance of of oganizational alignment, the concept of “minimal viable agreement”, cross-functional requirements, and technology strategy
    • Chapter 10 of my book dives deep into how to collectively source, and evolve Architectural Principles
    • Chapter 11 of my book details how to build and maintain your organisation’s own Technology Radar. (This chapter is free to download too.)
  • Sub-Section - System Sensing - The Social
    • Chapter 15 of my book goes into details on safety, and how to build it
    • Chapter 16 of my book goes into leadership, and how to cultivate it at every level of your software delivery practice
• Section: Conclusion
  • Examples of Architecture Advice Process adoption from OpenGI, Fleetworthy, and Xapo Bank