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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
Process Mapping method illustration showing its working structure
Operations
Process Mapping
Paper illustration for Starfish Retrospective
Agile
Starfish 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.With a confusing workflow that has many handoffs, the method makes the actual process visible. It shows where work is passed on, delayed, or duplicated, so improvement targets the right spots.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumLow
Timedifferent
15-45 min1-3 h45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
1-33-104-12
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
ADR File, Decision Log, RationaleProcess Map, Handoff List, Improvement BacklogStarfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
ProcessOperationsImprovement
RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Sailboat Retrospective
Agile
Sailboat Retrospective
Paper illustration of a team retrospective with three separate Start, Stop, and Continue areas and a shared action list.
Agile
Start Stop Continue
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 of a review with planned work, actual event sequence, comparison, and assigned improvement actions.
Operations
After-Action Review