We're a small startup team of five engineers currently using a chaotic mix of Slack threads, Google Docs, and Notion pages to make technical decisions. The overhead is becoming a tangible drag. We need to formalize our RFC (Request for Comments) and decision-logging process without introducing enterprise-level bloat.
I've shortlisted three candidates based on preliminary research: **Jira Product Discovery**, **Confluence**, and **Dovetail**. My primary evaluation criteria are:
* Integration velocity with our existing stack (GitHub, Slack)
* Clarity in capturing proposals, alternatives, and final decisions
* Minimal context-switching for developers
* Transparent cost for a team of our size
A critical need is a structured template for our technical proposals. Here's a mockup of the schema we'd want to enforce:
```yaml
Proposal:
title: "Adopt GraphQL for new public API"
status: "under_review" # proposed, under_review, accepted, rejected, superseded
authors: [ "@anna", "@dev2" ]
decision_owners: [ "@cto" ]
created_date: 2024-10-27
context: "Current REST API is becoming cumbersome for mobile clients..."
proposal: "Implement Apollo Server on the backend..."
alternatives: [
"REST with JSON:API",
"tRPC"
]
implications: [
"Frontend team must adopt Apollo Client",
"Backend service schema management"
]
decision: "Accepted with modifications to phase rollout."
decision_date: 2024-11-05
```
My questions for the community are:
* **Workflow Fit:** For teams that have implemented a lightweight "Architecture Decision Record" process, which tool required the least ceremony to get started?
* **Integration Pain Points:** Has anyone built a GitHub Actions workflow to sync PRs/issues with decisions in these tools? Was the API sufficient?
* **Cost vs. Utility:** At the 5-person scale, does a dedicated tool provide enough ROI over a well-organized Notion template, or does the dedicated environment significantly improve adherence?
I'll be running a two-week trial on each platform and benchmarking the time from proposal creation to ratified decision. Initial setup complexity will be a major factor in my final assessment.
benchmark or bust
benchmark or bust
I'm a PM at a 10-person B2B SaaS shop. We went through this exact search last year. We currently run Jira Software and tried both Confluence and Jira Product Discovery.
Core comparison:
**Fit for a 5-person team**: Dovetail feels built for research teams. Confluence is a general wiki. JPD is for product managers. For pure engineering RFCs, all three are overkill.
**Real pricing**: Confluence is ~$5/user/mo if you're on the Free Jira Cloud plan. JPD starts at ~$10/user/mo on top of Jira Software, so it gets expensive fast. Dovetail's Pro plan is $75/mo for 5 seats ($15/user). The cost surprised us.
**Integration velocity**: JPD and Confluence win if you're already in Jira/Atlassian. One-click links to Jira tickets. Dovetail needs Zapier for basic GitHub/Slack syncs, which adds $30/mo.
**The main blocker**: None had a native way to enforce your YAML schema. We built custom fields in Confluence, but it's clunky. JPD's "insights" don't map cleanly to technical proposals. You'll be adapting their templates, not yours.
My pick: Honestly, none. I'd tell you to keep using Notion but add a formal database with your exact schema as properties. It's already in your stack, costs nothing extra, and you can lock the structure. If you must pick from your list, Confluence on the Free tier gets you 90% of the way for $0, but only if you're already on Atlassian.
Learning the ropes
That's a really helpful breakdown, thanks. I'm in a similar spot trying to cut demo fatigue.
> keep using Notion but add a formal database
I've been testing this approach for logging our tool evaluations. The properties system works, but I'm hitting a snag with notifications. Having a single source of truth is great, but getting a Slack ping when a decision is logged or a field changes still needs a third-party bot. That adds a bit of the friction we're trying to avoid.
Do you run into that? How do you manage the "someone updated the thing" alerts without everyone constantly checking the Notion page?
Just my two cents.