An assistant often gives a confident answer when asked which database, framework or architecture to use. The useful next step is to expose the reasoning that would make the answer appropriate for this project. An architecture decision record can keep that reasoning visible while AI helps explore alternatives and missing constraints.
Record the decision that matters
Choose a decision that changes system structure, an important quality attribute or a commitment that is expensive to reverse. Not every package choice needs a formal record. For a proposed Thora Vietnam automation, whether a human must approve an external action may matter more than the styling library.
Describe the constraint before naming the preferred solution. This prevents the record from becoming a justification written after the choice.
Ask for competing explanations
Give the assistant the current context and ask it to argue for two credible options. For each, ask what becomes simpler, what becomes harder, and which assumption would make the option fail. Require uncertain product claims to be checked against current primary documentation.
Do not ask for a universal winner. Ask which choice best fits the constraints you can actually support.
Keep a compact decision record
A practical record can include context, options, decision, consequences, status and a reason to revisit. The team owns the accepted decision; the assistant supplies a draft and questions. Separate facts from estimates and include links to the evidence used.
Decision: require approval before external delivery.
Status: proposed.
Reason: output quality and customer permissions are not yet validated.
Consequence: slower delivery, with an explicit review checkpoint.
Revisit when: a defined evaluation and access review support a change.Preserve why the choice changed
When a new decision replaces an accepted one, create a linked record that explains the new evidence. Preserve the earlier reasoning instead of rewriting history to make the latest choice appear inevitable. This gives a future maintainer a useful answer to why the system works this way.
Further reading
Background for the method; the Thora Vietnam workflow above is a proposed application.
Microsoft — Maintain an architecture decision record
