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| Criterion |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Agile Sprint Retrospective |  Agile Mad Sad Glad |  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. | When a sprint is over and friction shouldn't simply be carried forward, it opens the view onto collaboration and patterns. It creates space to see causes and changes together. | When a team's or workshop's mood needs to become readable, it structures emotional signals with little setup. It makes strain, relief, and sources of energy tangible. | 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. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | Up to 3 hours for a one-month Sprint; shorter Sprints are usually shorter | 30-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-3 | Scrum Team | 3-10 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Improvement actions, Team agreements | Emotion Board, Themes, Action Items | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | RetrospectiveImprovementLearning | RetrospectiveTeamReflection | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam |