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| Criterion |  Architecture arc42 |  Architecture Views and Beyond |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |  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. | 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. | 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. | 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 | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-2 Tage | 1-3 Tage | 45-120 min | 15-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | 1-4 | 2-8 | 1-3 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Architecture Views, Cross-view Notes, Rationale | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | DocumentationStakeholdersArchitecture | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance |