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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 Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Paper illustration for Trade-off Analysis.
Decision Making
Trade-off Analysis
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.For a deviation after a change, the method isolates the influence of the altered condition. It narrows down which differences are relevant and which are just accompanying noise.With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumMedium
Timedifferent
15-45 min45-120 min45-120 min
Participantsdifferent
1-32-62-8
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
ADR File, Decision Log, RationaleChange Matrix, Cause Hypotheses, Validation Questions, Action ListTrade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
ChangeRoot causeTroubleshootingComparison
TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration of a decision table with criteria rows, weighted ratings, and a narrowly leading alternative.
Decision Making
Decision Matrix
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)