What is the purpose of an engineering decision log?

• A. To measure the robot's speed only.
• B. To capture rationale, alternatives considered, and test outcomes to inform future work.
• C. To track attendance at meetings.
• D. To document the budget.

Answer: (B)

An engineering decision log is meant to capture the reasoning behind design choices. It records the rationale for selecting a particular approach, the alternatives that were considered, the tests or experiments that were run, and the outcomes of those tests. This creates a clear, traceable record so current and future team members can understand why a decision was made, what evidence supported it, and what assumptions or risks were involved. It also helps guide future work, so later teams can build on previous results, revisit decisions if new information arises, and avoid repeating past investigations.

That’s why simply measuring a single metric like speed, or handling administrative tasks like attendance or budgeting, doesn’t fulfill the purpose. Those activities are useful in their own right but don’t preserve the design rationale, test data, or the anticipated path forward that a decision log provides.