Which route do I take?¶

Answer five questions to find the lightest governance route that fits your work.

Prefer an interactive version?

The decision check walks you through these questions, suggests a route and drafts a decision record for you.

flowchart TD
    accTitle: Governance triage decision tree
    accDescr: Changes to strategy or strategic platforms go to the Technology Governance Board. Exceptions to Must guardrails, and novel or cross-cutting work, go to the Technical Design Authority. Departures from Should guardrails, phase gates and significant changes go to the solution design authority. Everything else is self-assured and recorded in an ADR.
    A([Start]) --> Q1{"Does it change Defra<br/>technology strategy, or<br/>create or retire a<br/>strategic platform?"}
    Q1 -->|Yes| TGB["Technology<br/>Governance Board"]
    Q1 -->|No| Q2{"Do you need an exception<br/>to a <b>Must</b> guardrail?"}
    Q2 -->|Yes| TDA["Technical Design<br/>Authority"]
    Q2 -->|No| Q3{"Is it novel for Defra, or<br/>does it affect services<br/>beyond your own?"}
    Q3 -->|Yes| TDA
    Q3 -->|No| Q4{"Do you depart from a<br/><b>Should</b> guardrail or a<br/>strategic capability?"}
    Q4 -->|Yes| SDA["Solution design<br/>authority"]
    Q4 -->|No| Q5{"Is it a phase gate<br/>or significant change?"}
    Q5 -->|Yes| SDA
    Q5 -->|No| SELF["Self-assure and<br/>record an ADR"]

The questions in more detail¶

1. Does it change strategy or a strategic platform?¶

Examples: adopting a new cloud provider, introducing a new strategic platform, changing a Must guardrail, retiring a capability used across Defra. These go to the Technology Governance Board, normally after review by the TDA.

2. Do you need an exception to a Must guardrail?¶

Examples: hosting outside the Core Delivery Platform, building your own sign-in, keeping code private. Go to the Technical Design Authority via the exception process.

3. Is it novel or cross-cutting?¶

Novel means Defra has not done it before: a new technology, a new integration pattern, a first use of generative AI in a service. Cross-cutting means other services, teams or arm's length bodies will depend on it or be affected by it: a new shared API, a change to a shared data set, a new identity integration pattern. Go to the TDA.

4. Do you depart from a Should guardrail or strategic capability?¶

Record your reasoning in an ADR and agree it with your solution design authority.

5. Is it a phase gate or significant change?¶

Share your architecture, ADR log and threat model with your SDA ahead of alpha, beta and live assessments, and before significant changes.

Otherwise - self-assure¶

Use the 10-minute self-assurance checklist, record significant decisions as ADRs, and carry on.

Not sure?¶

Ask. The architecture team runs drop-in sessions for teams and delivery partners and will tell you the right route - usually in a single conversation. See the architecture team.