Software Architect's Handbook

Design rationale for design knowledge transfer

The design rationale can be used for knowledge transfer to team members, including those who may join the team later, either during development or after the software goes into its maintenance phase.

Team members can learn about the design decisions and the reasons behind them by reviewing the design rationale. It is particularly useful for knowledge transfer when the original software architect, and others who collaborated on the design of the software architecture, are no longer available to provide the information in other ways.