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| Criterion |  Architecture Architecture Inception Canvas |  Architecture Software Architecture Canvas |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | The Software Architecture Canvas reduces a system to the most important architecture decisions, constraints, and interfaces. It is useful when teams need a resilient overall picture quickly. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h | 1-2 h | 45-90 min | 45-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 3-10 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Inception Canvas, Risks, Goal List, Open Questions | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides |
Tagsno overlap | AlignmentArchitectureCanvas | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions |