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Criterion
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
A structured reflection surfaces what was liked, learned, lacked, and longed for. It is a conversation format and does not validate actions automatically.
Agile
4Ls Retrospective
Paper illustration for Starfish Retrospective
Agile
Starfish Retrospective
The Scrum Team inspects people, interactions, processes, tools, and the Definition of Done, then agrees on a few testable improvements.
Agile
Sprint 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 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.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.
Complexitysame
LowLowLowLow
Timedifferent
15-45 min45–75 min45-90 minUp to 3 hours for a one-month Sprint; shorter Sprints are usually shorter
Participantsdifferent
1-3Team members involved4-12Scrum Team
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshopWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement ActionsStarfish Board, Practice Changes, ExperimentsImprovement actions, Team agreements
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam
RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam
RetrospectiveImprovementLearning
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