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| Criterion |  Architecture arc42 |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Product Strategy ICE Scoring |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | When several options collide with several criteria, comparison quickly becomes subjective. A Decision Matrix makes the trade-off visible and brings weighting, criteria, and options into a shared logic. | When ideas need sorting quickly, it condenses impact, confidence, and effort into one compact score. It connects customer value, product logic, and decision priorities. The result is captured as an ICE table and top-ideas list. | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-2 Tage | 45-90 min | 30-60 min | 45-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | ICE Table, Top Idea List | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | PrioritizationScoringGrowthDecision | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions |