DefinedTerm · Decision Design Framework

Judgment Architecture

Judgment Architecture is the institutional arrangement through which judgment authority is allocated, exercised, transferred, recorded, and reviewed.

Formal definition

Judgment Architecture makes the organization behind a decision explicit: roles, authority domains, delegation paths, escalation triggers, override rights, records, and review mechanisms form a single operating structure.

What it is not

It is not software architecture, model architecture, a RACI chart by itself, or an abstract theory of human cognition.

Concept boundary

It describes institutional authority, not the internal reasoning architecture of an AI model or an individual's cognitive style.

Relationship to Decision Design

Decision Design is the discipline; Judgment Architecture is the organizational structure that the discipline produces and maintains.

Return to the Decision Design pillar

Structural components

  1. 01

    Decision roles and authority domains

  2. 02

    Delegation, escalation, override, and stopping paths

  3. 03

    Evidence, review, and institutional memory

Practical example

A procurement process separates AI-generated vendor analysis, buyer recommendation, legal exception review, and the executive with final commitment authority.

Research and working papers

Decision Design as Judgment Architecture (SSRN) ↗

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