Book Exercise Lanes
This module's exercise system is artifact-driven, not problem-set-driven. Use these lanes when you have completed the concept and practice pages but want extra volume on a specific failure mode.
How To Use This Page
- Finish the relevant concept page first.
- Produce the artifact the concept ends with (an ADR, a critique, a fitness function, etc.).
- Only then open the matching exercise lane.
- Keep a mistake log with tags such as
thin context,missing consequences,decisions without consequences,in-place amendment abuse,ADR bureaucracy,undersized participant list,judgment before curiosity,fitness function without exemption,drift not caught.
Lane 1: ADR Writing Volume
Use this lane when the issue is writing clear ADRs, especially Context and Consequences.
- Fundamentals: Architecture decision records
- Fundamentals: Basic structure (ADR)
- Fundamentals: Analyzing trade-offs
- Fundamentals: Architecture decisions
- ADR community index (Joel Parker Henderson)
- MADR template
Target outcomes:
- 8 full ADRs (Nygard, MADR, and Y-statement mix) for real decisions
- 5 written critiques of others' ADRs with rewrites of the weakest section
- 3 retrospective ADRs for implicit decisions in your system
- 2 explicit "no ADR needed because ..." memos on borderline cases
Lane 2: Review Facilitation Volume
Use this lane when the issue is running reviews that end with a decision and captured risks.
- Fundamentals: Making teams effective
- Fundamentals: Leveraging checklists
- Fundamentals: Negotiation and facilitation
- Fundamentals: Negotiating with other architects
- Fundamentals: Risk storming
- Fundamentals: Risk storming examples
- Just Enough: Team communication part 2
Target outcomes:
- 4 review packages prepared end-to-end (pre-read + participants + agenda)
- 4 reviews facilitated with curiosity / judgment separation; each ends with an ADR in Accepted or Rejected state
- 2 retrospectives of your own facilitation, naming specific points where you missed the phase transition
- 2 reviews where you deliberately played reviewer and gave at least 3 substantive comments
Lane 3: Risk and Method Selection Volume
Use this lane when the issue is picking the right review weight for the risk.
- Just Enough: Risk-driven model
- Just Enough: Project management risks vs software engineering risks
- Just Enough: Guidance on choosing techniques
- Just Enough: Features and risk - a story
- Just Enough: Analyzing architecture models part 1
- Just Enough: Analyzing architecture models part 2
- Just Enough: Quality attribute scenarios
- Fundamentals: Risk matrix
Target outcomes:
- 6 risk tables for upcoming or recent changes, with likelihood x impact scores
- 3 review-method-selection memos ("for this change we will do lightweight peer review because...")
- 2 utility tree sketches with at least 3 scenarios each
- 1 written "we chose not to review" justification for a low-risk change
Lane 4: Fitness Functions and Drift Volume
Use this lane when the issue is keeping decisions honest over time.
- Fundamentals: Fitness functions
- Fundamentals: Measuring architecture characteristics
- Just Enough: Architectural mismatch
- Just Enough: Challenges part 1
- Just Enough: Challenges part 2
- Fitness function-driven development (Thoughtworks)
- Martin Fowler: Foreword to Evolutionary Architectures
Target outcomes:
- 3 fitness functions implemented and running in CI against a real codebase
- 1 claim explicitly identified as "cannot yet be automated," with a one-page justification
- 1 drift audit of at least 3 ADRs, with findings categorized as context drift vs implementation drift
- 1 superseded ADR pair with correct bi-directional links
Self-Curated Exercise Set
Build a custom set with these minimums:
- 5 ADRs written in three templates combined
- 5 ADR critiques with rewrites
- 3 reviews facilitated with all outputs captured
- 3 fitness functions designed; at least 1 shipped to CI
- 2 drift audits
- 2 supersede-pair constructions
Completion Checklist
- Completed at least one lane in full
- Logged at least 10 mistakes with tags
- Written at least 3 ADRs that survived peer review unchanged in structure
- Facilitated at least 2 reviews that ended with a decision on the page
- Shipped at least 1 fitness function to CI
- Performed at least 1 drift audit and superseded at least 1 ADR as a result