An Architectural Decision (AD) is a justified software design choice that addresses a functional or non-functional requirement that is architecturally significant. An Architecturally Significant Requirement (ASR) is a requirement that has a measurable effect on a software system’s architecture and quality. An Architectural Decision Record (ADR) captures a single AD and its rationale; the collection of ADRs created and maintained in a project constitute its decision log. All these are within the topic of Architectural Knowledge Management (AKM), but ADR usage can be extended to design and other decisions (“any decision record”).

Source: adr.github.io: Homepage of the ADR GitHub organization