Field notes
Building an event decision log your team will actually open
Why server-side event mapping projects stall without a short decision log, and what to record after each workshop.
Beautiful event catalogues still fail when a new engineer renames order_paid to payment_success six weeks later. The missing artefact is usually a decision log — a short record of why a name won.
What to capture
For each contested event, note the alternatives considered, the chosen name, the owner, and the date. One paragraph is enough. Link to the pull request or ticket that implemented the handler emission.
Where it lives
Keep the log beside the catalogue, not in a chat thread. Chat scrolls; catalogues get bookmarked. During instrumentation reviews we often find the catalogue is current while the reasoning has vanished.
Mild discipline beats heavy process
You do not need a formal architecture review board. You need a habit: no server-side event ships for connected mobile apps until the decision log has a line. That habit is easier to keep than reconciling three years of renamed properties.