Technical Decision Making Skill

Purpose

Provide engineering managers with structured frameworks for making sound technical decisions, evaluating technologies, managing technical debt, and developing technical roadmaps.

Primary Bond

Agent: technical-strategy-agent Relationship: This skill provides ADR templates, evaluation frameworks, and decision tools that the technical-strategy-agent uses.

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Templates

Architecture Decision Record (ADR)

# ADR-{NUMBER}: {TITLE}

## Status
{Proposed | Accepted | Deprecated | Superseded by ADR-XXX}

## Date
{YYYY-MM-DD}

## Context
{What is the issue that we're seeing that is motivating this decision?}

## Decision Drivers
- {driver 1}
- {driver 2}

## Considered Options
1. {Option 1}
2. {Option 2}
3. {Option 3}

## Decision Outcome
Chosen option: "{option X}", because {justification}.

### Positive Consequences
- {consequence 1}

### Negative Consequences
- {consequence 1}

## Pros and Cons of Options

### Option 1: {name}
| Aspect | Assessment |
|--------|------------|
| Effort | {Low/Medium/High} |
| Risk | {Low/Medium/High} |
| Team Fit | {score}/5 |
| Reversibility | {Easy/Hard} |

Good, because {argument}.
Bad, because {argument}.

## Links
- {Link to related ADR}
- {Link to documentation}

Technology Evaluation Matrix

technology_evaluation:
  template:
    candidate: "{Technology name}"
    evaluation_date: "{Date}"
    evaluator: "{Name}"

  criteria:
    technical_fit:
      weight: 25%
      factors:
        - scalability_match: "1-5"
        - performance_requirements: "1-5"
        - security_compliance: "1-5"
      score: null

    team_readiness:
      weight: 20%
      factors:
        - current_expertise: "1-5"
        - learning_curve: "1-5"
        - hiring_market: "1-5"
      score: null

    ecosystem_maturity:
      weight: 20%
      factors:
        - community_size: "1-5"
        - documentation_quality: "1-5"
        - library_availability: "1-5"
      score: null

    operational:
      weight: 20%
      factors:
        - deployment_complexity: "1-5"
        - monitoring_support: "1-5"
        - maintenance_burden: "1-5"
      score: null

    cost:
      weight: 15%
      factors:
        - licensing: "1-5"
        - infrastructure: "1-5"
        - training: "1-5"
      score: null

  interpretation:
    4.5_plus: "Strong candidate - proceed"
    3.5_to_4.4: "Viable - address concerns"
    2.5_to_3.4: "Risky - significant gaps"
    below_2.5: "Not recommended"

Technical Debt Tracker

technical_debt_item:
  id: "TD-{NUMBER}"
  title: "{Short description}"
  category: "{architecture | code | infrastructure | testing | documentation}"
  quadrant: "{deliberate_prudent | deliberate_reckless | inadvertent_prudent | inadvertent_reckless}"

  description: "{Detailed description}"
  created_date: "{Date}"
  owner: "{Team/Person}"

  impact:
    development_velocity: "{-X%}"
    reliability_risk: "{low | medium | high}"
    security_risk: "{low | medium | high}"

  effort:
    estimate: "{T-shirt: S/M/L/XL}"
    sprints: "{Number}"
    dependencies: ["{Other work}"]

  interest_rate: "{stable | increasing | decreasing}"

  recommendation:
    action: "{fix | defer | monitor | accept}"
    timeline: "{Q1 2025}"
    justification: "{Why this recommendation}"

  resolution:
    status: "{open | in_progress | resolved | wont_fix}"
    resolved_date: null
    notes: null

Technical Roadmap

technical_roadmap:
  year: 2025

  q1:
    theme: "Foundation"
    initiatives:
      - name: "Infrastructure modernization"
        priority: "P0"
        owner: "Platform team"
        dependencies: []
      - name: "Observability stack"
        priority: "P1"
        owner: "SRE"
        dependencies: ["Infrastructure modernization"]

  q2:
    theme: "Scale"
    initiatives:
      - name: "Database sharding"
        priority: "P0"
        owner: "Data team"
        dependencies: ["Infrastructure modernization"]

  q3:
    theme: "Velocity"
    initiatives:
      - name: "CI/CD improvements"
        priority: "P1"
        owner: "DevEx team"

  q4:
    theme: "Innovation"
    initiatives:
      - name: "Event-driven architecture"
        priority: "P2"
        owner: "Architecture team"

---

Decision Trees

Build vs Buy

Need identified
|
+-- Is this core to our business?
|   +-- Yes -> Lean toward Build
|   +-- No -> Continue
|
+-- Does a good solution exist?
|   +-- No -> Must Build
|   +-- Yes -> Continue
|
+-- Can we afford the buy option?
|   +-- No -> Must Build
|   +-- Yes -> Continue
|
+-- Is time-to-market critical?
|   +-- Yes -> Lean toward Buy
|   +-- No -> Continue
|
+-- Do we have the expertise to build?
    +-- Yes -> Evaluate total cost of ownership
    +-- No -> Buy (or hire first)

Architecture Pattern Selection

Team size and domain complexity
|
+-- Small team (<5), Simple domain
|   +-- Monolith
|
+-- Small team, Complex domain
|   +-- 

...