Why did we make this design decision—and what would someone need to question it or carry it forward? Chain of Authorship is my developing framework for keeping the evidence, interpretations, and choices behind design work connected.
Start with one consequential choice. Record what you observed, how you interpreted it, which alternatives you considered, and what you committed to. Keep the source close enough that someone can check the reasoning later.
Rather than imposing a fixed process or exhaustive documentation regime, it asks designers to make only the context necessary to explain, challenge, or continue a consequential choice recoverable.
The framework distinguishes observations, interpretations, intentions, commitments, and retrospective reconstructions so that exploratory work is not mistaken for validated evidence or implementation instruction.
A bounded reconstruction of the DM a GM project illustrates the coordination problems from which the proposal emerged, including the loss of context when prototypes and feature descriptions moved between people.
The article positions the framework alongside design rationale, requirements traceability, reflective practice, and Research through Design, and proposes evaluation criteria centered on explainability, continuability, contestability, and maintenance burden.