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| Criterion |  Architecture Architecture Inception Canvas |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The Architecture Inception Canvas bundles the first architecture questions into a compact decision picture. It fits when an initiative is still in motion but still needs clear guardrails. | ARID examines how well developers can work with a technical design. It focuses on a part of the system that can still be revised, between the architecture overview and the detailed specification. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Inception Canvas, Risks, Goal List, Open Questions | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option |
Tagsno overlap | AlignmentArchitectureCanvas | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs |
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