{
  "uid": "cogitave.learn.use-the-decision-guides.introduction",
  "kind": "moduleUnit",
  "href": "/modules/use-the-decision-guides/introduction/",
  "title": "Introduction",
  "summary": "",
  "type": null,
  "products": [],
  "roles": [],
  "levels": [],
  "subjects": [],
  "headings": [
    "Why this matters",
    "What you will get from this module"
  ],
  "source": "Every product engineer eventually asks the same three questions: which data\nstore, which compute shape, which model. Left to per-team taste, the answers\ndrift - one service reaches for MongoDB because someone liked it last job,\nanother stands up a Redis cluster \"just in case,\" a third calls the frontier\nmodel for a task a fast tier would handle. Cogitave answers all three with a\n**directive guidance system** instead: a decision guide that tells you the\ndefault, walks you through a real decision tree, and states exactly when - and\nhow - you are allowed to choose something else.\n\n> [!IMPORTANT]\n> A decision guide **prescribes**, it does not merely describe. It is not a\n> list of options for you to weigh; it names the default and requires a\n> recorded, evidence-backed reason to land anywhere else.\n\nThree guides exist today, one per selection domain:\n\n- [Database selection](../../../../standards/docs/standards/database-selection.md) -\n  which operational data store for a workload.\n- [Infrastructure selection](../../../../standards/docs/standards/infrastructure-selection.md) -\n  which compute, storage, messaging, caching, or edge shape for a workload.\n- [Model selection](../../../../standards/docs/standards/model-selection.md) -\n  which model capability tier to call for a task.\n\nAll three are governed by one decision:\n[ADR-0021](../../../../standards/docs/decisions/0021-technology-selection-guidance.md),\nwhich places them as a **selection** layer sitting above the\n[technology radar](../../../../standards/docs/standards/technology-radar.md)'s\nAdopt/Trial/Assess/Hold rings and above the domain standards that say *how* to\nbuild once a choice is made.\n\n## Why this matters\n\nA guidance system only earns its name if you actually use it: read the\ndefault, walk the tree in order, and - if you must deviate - record the\nmeasured need in an ADR rather than defaulting from memory or habit. This\nmodule teaches you to do exactly that, and it is the **last module** in the\n\"Patterns and golden paths\" learning path: finishing it completes the path and\nearns its trophy.\n\n## What you will get from this module\n\nNot a summary of three standards to memorize, but the ability to **open any of\nthe three guides cold**, find its default, walk its decision tree for a real\nworkload or task, and know precisely what a deviation must record before it is\njustified.\n",
  "partOf": "cogitave.learn.use-the-decision-guides",
  "durationInMinutes": 4,
  "quiz": null
}