develop-design-rationale

1<!-- PM-Skills | https://github.com/product-on-purpose/pm-skills | Apache 2.0 -->
2# Design Rationale
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4A design rationale document captures the "why" behind design decisions.the context, constraints, alternatives considered, and reasoning that led to a particular solution. While designs themselves show what was built, rationale documents preserve institutional knowledge about why it was built that way.
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6## When to Use
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8- When making significant UX decisions that affect user experience
9- Before design reviews to prepare stakeholder discussions
10- When multiple valid approaches exist and the choice needs justification
11- To onboard new team members to existing design decisions
12- When revisiting past decisions to understand original reasoning
13- During design system evolution to document pattern choices
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15## When NOT to Use
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17- The decision is architectural or a technology selection -> use `develop-adr` (Nygard format)
18- You need stakeholder alignment on the overall solution direction -> use `develop-solution-brief`
19- You are documenting exploration findings rather than a decision -> use `develop-spike-summary`
20- The decision is trivially reversible and low-stakes: a rationale document adds ceremony; record the reasoning in the PR or ticket instead
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22## Instructions
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24When asked to document design rationale, follow these steps:
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261. **State the Decision**
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