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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture arc42 | ![]() Agile Sailboat Retrospective | ![]() Agile Starfish Retrospective | ![]() 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-2 Tage | 45-90 min | 45-90 min | 15-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | 4-12 | 4-12 | 1-3 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Sailboat Board, Risks, Improvement Actions | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | RetrospectiveTeamImprovement | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance |



