Architecture Review Board (ARB) Operating Guide

Executive Summary. The Architecture Review Board is the executive decision forum where portfolio-level design choices, standards changes, and exceptions receive accountable approval. When run poorly, ARBs become dreaded slide festivals; when run well, they accelerate alignment and reduce rework. This operating guide covers charter design, membership, intake workflows, decision records, and continuous improvement. Larkinized LLC helps organizations launch or reset ARBs within 30 days with templates and facilitation coaching.

ARB Purpose and Charter

Charter defines scope, decision types, authority limits, relationship to other committees (security, finance, change advisory).

Explicitly state what ARB does not decide—delegated domain choices, low-risk pattern usage.

Link charter to enterprise architecture principles and target states.

Executive sponsor signs charter and attends quarterly.

Membership and Roles

Chair: chief or lead enterprise architect facilitates; CIO or delegate decides escalations.

Members: domain IT leaders, security, data, key business representatives with decision authority.

Secretary: maintains logs, tracks actions, publishes decisions within 48 hours.

Quorum rules prevent decisions without accountable stakeholders present.

Intake and Tiering

Intake form captures problem, alternatives, portfolio impact, spend, risk tier, requested decision.

Tier 0: self-service patterns—no ARB. Tier 1: domain review. Tier 2: full ARB.

SLA: preliminary response in 5 business days; decision meeting within 15 for Tier 2.

Reject incomplete submissions to teach teams submission quality.

Meeting Cadence and Agenda

Biweekly 60–90 minute sessions focused on decisions—not status updates.

Standing slots: decisions required, exception renewals, standards ratification, metrics.

Deep dives scheduled separately to keep decision meeting efficient.

Virtual-friendly with pre-read discipline.

Decision Logs and ADRs

Every decision recorded: context, decision, rationale, conditions, owners, review date.

Link to ADRs and repository objects for traceability.

Publish searchable decision log for organization transparency.

Decisions without owners and dates are incomplete.

Handling Exceptions

Exceptions require risk acceptance by accountable executive, compensating controls, expiry.

Renewal requires re-justification—not automatic.

Trend analysis informs standards improvement.

Critical exceptions escalated to CIO within 24 hours when risk threshold exceeded.

Relationship to Project Gates

PMO integrates ARB outcomes into stage gates for capital projects.

Agile programs attach ARB decisions to epic acceptance criteria.

No bypass for high spend/risk work due to “agile urgency.”

Architecture debt register tracks deferred decisions.

Metrics and Health Checks

Backlog age, SLA compliance, exception count, standards adoption, stakeholder satisfaction survey.

Semi-annual retrospective: what to start/stop/continue.

Red flags: low attendance, rubber stamps, rising exceptions, increasing rework incidents.

Launching ARB in 30 Days

Week 1: charter and sponsor. Week 2: intake form and tiering. Week 3: train architects and PMO. Week 4: first decisions on real submissions.

Start with high-value decisions to demonstrate relevance.

Avoid launching with empty agenda or purely informational topics.

Larkinized LLC ARB Services

We facilitate charter workshops, design intake workflows, and coach inaugural ARB cycles.

Contact us to reset a struggling ARB or stand up your first board.