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| Criterion |  Architecture arc42 |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Architecture Views and Beyond |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | Views and Beyond organizes architecture into several views so no single diagram has to do everything at once. This makes it possible to choose the representation that fits the stakeholder's question. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-2 Tage | 20–45 min | 1-3 Tage | 15-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | Small cross-functional group | 1-4 | 1-3 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Architecture Views, Cross-view Notes, Rationale | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | DocumentationStakeholdersArchitecture | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance |