Phase 9 — Retirement & Archival

| | | |--|--| | **Phase** | 9 | | **Primary path** | both streams |


Phase	9
Primary path	both streams

Purpose

End systems as carefully as you launch them.

Sunsetting plan and communication timeline
Data export / migration guide for users
Knowledge transfer for undocumented quirks
Archive docs read-only — do not delete history needed for compliance or learning

Bad	Good
Turn off prod; tell users later	Sunsetting timeline + comms before cutover
Delete the docs repo	Archive read-only for compliance and learning
“Export your data somehow”	Step-by-step migration/export guide in `docs/user/`

When a system or feature is retired, archive its docs — don’t delete them:

What to keep	Where	Retention	Why
Architecture docs + ADRs	`docs/archive/<system>/`	Indefinite	Audit trail for decisions; new systems learn from old
Runbooks	`docs/archive/<system>/operations/`	Indefinite	Post-mortem reference; incident patterns repeat
User migration guide	`docs/user/migrations/`	Until migration window closes	Users need time to move
OpenAPI specs	`docs/archive/<system>/api-specs/`	Indefinite	Archived clients may still need to reference
KT notes	`docs/archive/<system>/retirement-kt.md`	1 year post-retirement	Knowledge transfer for future investigations
Compliance evidence	Per compliance policy	Per retention schedule	Legal/audit requirement

What to delete: Setup guides, outdated tutorials, internal debug notes, PR template checklists that reference the retired system.

Archive process:

Move files under docs/ → docs/archive/<system>/ (preserves relative links if possible, or add a redirect note).
Add an ARCHIVE.md at the archive root with date retired, owner, and a one-paragraph summary of why.
Update docs/GOVERNANCE.md to note the archived system.
Update the internal changelog (see Phase 8) with a retirement entry.

Your team decides to sunset an old feature. The only notice is a Slack message. What three audiences are left in the dark?
After decommissioning a service, the team wants to delete the entire docs folder to “clean up.” What should they keep and why?
A user asks “how do I export my data before the feature is removed.” Where should this live, and what’s missing if no such doc exists?