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| Criterion |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Operations After-Action Review |  Agile Starfish Retrospective |  Agile 4Ls 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. | After missions or project phases with unclear outcomes, the method makes visible what actually happened and what can be learned from it. It separates course, effect, and causes so experience turns into solid improvement. | 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 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. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | 20-45 min | 45-90 min | 45–75 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-3 | 3-12 | 4-12 | Team members involved |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Lessons learned, Action items, Event summary | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | LearningOperationsImprovement | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam |