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What does "decision-making" mean in programming?

decision-making is one of the most common terms in software development. This guide explains what it means, how it is used in practice, and why it matters, with real examples from the developer world.

Definition

The process of choosing between technical or product options by weighing trade-offs, data, and team input. Good engineering decision-making is documented (e.g. in an ADR), time-boxed, and preferably reversible.

Example

"We time-boxed the database decision to one week and documented the trade-offs in an ADR so the team was aligned."

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