A development decision, downstream
This is an example architecture, not a client engagement. The operation is composite and the names are generic.
Context
A design-build organization where development, design, preconstruction, construction and operations each own a phase and hand over to the next.
Operational constraint
The decision is made once, early, with the least information. Everything downstream inherits it, and the people who inherit it often cannot see why it was made.
Programme change approved in developmentDecides: Development director
| Function | State it is left in | Decides | System of record | Finds out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Development | State it is left in:Decision made and recorded as an outcome, not as a rationale | Decides:Development director | System of record:Board paper | Finds out:Immediately |
| Design | State it is left in:Re-solving a constraint whose reasoning was not carried over | Decides:Design lead | System of record:Model | Finds out:Next design cycle |
| Preconstruction | State it is left in:Estimating against an assumption nobody restated | Decides:Preconstruction | System of record:Estimate | Finds out:At pricing |
| Construction | State it is left in:Discovers the constraint as a field condition | Decides:Project manager | System of record:RFI log | Finds out:On site |
| Turnover and operations | State it is left in:Inherits a building whose decisions are undocumented | Decides:Operations | System of record:O&M handover | Finds out:At handover |
A dashed marker means the handoff has no defined owner and depends on a person carrying the context.
How to read it
- The decision propagated. The reasoning did not, and the reasoning is what downstream functions actually needed.
- An RFI at construction is often a decision being re-made, not a question being asked.
- Carrying rationale forward is an architecture problem: it needs an owner, a place to live and a trigger that makes people read it.
- Turnover is where undocumented decisions become someone else's operating cost for thirty years.