Define decentralized architectural decision making.

• A. It centralizes architecture decisions
• B. It delays architectural decisions
• C. It supports emergent design intentionally
• D. It eliminates refactoring

Answer: (C)

Empowering teams to make architectural decisions where they have the most context and the least handoffs is the idea behind decentralized architectural decision making. This approach intentionally supports emergent design, letting the architecture evolve as teams implement features, test integrations, and learn from real usage. In SAFe, guardrails and an architectural runway are set by system architects to provide boundaries and ensure alignment across the solution, while teams own decisions about components, interfaces, patterns, and other technical choices within those boundaries. This balance speeds delivery and keeps the design relevant to current needs, with refactoring naturally as new insights emerge. Centralizing decisions would slow progress, delaying decisions wastes cycles, and the goal is not to eliminate refactoring but to let the architecture adapt as learning happens.