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| Criterion |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Agile Starfish Retrospective |  Agile Sailboat Retrospective |  Architecture arc42 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 wants to read momentum, brakes, and risks together, it offers an easily understandable picture of the situation. It makes drive, obstacles, and headwind visible in the same picture. | arc42 structures architecture knowledge so teams can document system, decisions, and risks consistently. The template builds a living understanding of the architecture instead of scattered notes. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | 45-90 min | 45-90 min | 1-2 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 1-3 | 4-12 | 4-12 | 1-4 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | Sailboat Board, Risks, Improvement Actions | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | RetrospectiveTeamImprovement | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication |