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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) | ![]() Architecture arc42 | ![]() Architecture Architecture Decision Record | ![]() Engineering Golden Path |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | 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. | 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. | When teams need a reliable default path for frequent use, sprawl quickly emerges without any guiding logic. Golden Path bundles the preferred path so good practice becomes easy and deviation becomes deliberate. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 1-2 Tage | 15-45 min | 1-3 Tage Setup, laufend |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 1-4 | 1-3 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Golden Path Guide, Templates, Quality Checks |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | EngineeringProductivityGovernance |



