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| Criterion |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Agile Starfish Retrospective |  Agile Mad Sad Glad |  Agile 4Ls 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 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. | 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 a sprint should not only be assessed but also learned from, it captures experience in clear learning categories. It records what worked, what's missing, and what should run differently next time. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | 45-90 min | 30-60 min | 45–75 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-3 | 4-12 | 3-10 | Team members involved |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | Emotion Board, Themes, Action Items | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | RetrospectiveTeamReflection | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam |