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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
Paper illustration for Bucket System.
Agile
Bucket System
Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Paper illustration for Affinity Estimation.
Agile
Affinity Estimation
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 large batch of work needs a fast, rough estimate, it sorts items into predefined size buckets. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as a Bucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, and Split Candidates.LASR helps development teams identify where their software falls short of important quality goals and which improvements to consider. A small group with existing system knowledge can make an initial assessment and investigate open questions in more detail.When many tasks need to be classified quickly, it sorts them by perceived effort and similarity. It reduces the effort of fine-grained estimation for large volumes.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumMediumMedium
Timedifferent
15-45 min30-90 min3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional30-90 min
Participantsdifferent
1-33-121 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people3-12
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
ADR File, Decision Log, RationaleBucketed Backlog, Relative Estimates, Split CandidatesLean Mission Statement describing the software’s purpose, Prioritized quality goals and evaluation criteria, Risks and estimated gaps against quality goals, More closely examined findings and open checksAffinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
EstimationBacklogRelative sizing
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
EstimationBacklogRelative sizing
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