Definition
Note: "Trade-off" is used consistently across AAOE Guides and Standards (Architecture Review, ADRs, Human–AI Collaboration) but does not yet have a single canonical definition as a standalone term. This entry is a candidate for future refinement.
Provisionally: a trade-off is a consequence accepted in exchange for a benefit when an architectural or engineering decision is made — recorded, where significant, as part of an Architecture Decision Record's consequences.
Why It Matters
Surfacing trade-offs explicitly, rather than leaving them implicit, is one of the things Architecture Review exists to do. An ADR that records consequences without naming the trade-off behind them leaves future readers unable to tell whether the trade-off still holds.
Related Concepts
- Architecture Decision Record
- Architecture Review
- Assumption
References
- GUIDE-0004 — Architecture Reviews
- GUIDE-0006 — Human–AI Collaboration
- GUIDE-0009 — Architecture Decision Records
- STD-0012 — Architecture Decision Records