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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 hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
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.In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures.
Complexitysame
LowLow
Timedifferent
15-45 min20–45 min
Participantsdifferent
1-3Small cross-functional group
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
ADR File, Decision Log, RationaleRisk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Paper illustration for Argument Mapping
Decision Making
Argument Mapping
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing