Decisions, Decisions -- Thoughts on making architectural decisions

After years working with software, I've developed a set of principles that guide my architectural decision-making. These aren't hard rules — they're lenses to look through when faced with choices that will outlast the sprint they were made in. We're faced with decisions constantly and it helps to have a framework to use especially when explaining to an LLM what you value or want to share with a team member. I use these to shape building architecture decision records (ADRs) and review other ADRs as well. Simplicity over complexity Prefer simple APIs over complex ones. A smaller surface area and a more focused role make a system easier to understand, reason about, and eventually replace. Everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler ― Einstein If something offers a larger surface area, stay in the simpler parts of the API rather than reaching for complex features — indexes in Postgres carry less lock-in than stored procedures, for instance. Prefer proxy APIs that allow for