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| Criterion |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Agile 4Ls Retrospective |  Agile Sprint Retrospective |  Agile Starfish Retrospective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | An ADR permanently records an architecture decision with context, trade-offs, and consequence. It creates continuity for later changes because the decision path stays traceable. | When a sprint should not only be assessed but also learned from, it captures experience in clear learning categories. It records what worked, what's missing, and what should run differently next time. | When a sprint is over and friction shouldn't simply be carried forward, it opens the view onto collaboration and patterns. It creates space to see causes and changes together. | When improvement options need to be sorted more finely than just start and stop, it brings observations into clear kinds of action. This makes visible what should be done more, less, newly, or continued. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | 45–75 min | Up to 3 hours for a one-month Sprint; shorter Sprints are usually shorter | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-3 | Team members involved | Scrum Team | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions | Improvement actions, Team agreements | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam | RetrospectiveImprovementLearning | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam |