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| Criterion |  Architecture arc42 |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Architecture C4 Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | The C4 Model makes a system legible across several resolution levels, from context down to code. It suits situations where different audiences need to understand the same architecture from different altitudes. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-2 Tage | 20–45 min | 45-90 min | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | Small cross-functional group | 2-8 | 1-5 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Context Diagram, Container Diagram, Component Diagram |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | ArchitectureCommunicationVisualization |