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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Architecture Inception CanvasDecision MatrixSoftware Architecture Canvas
| Criterion | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) | ![]() Architecture Architecture Inception Canvas | ![]() Decision Making Decision Matrix | ![]() Architecture Software Architecture Canvas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 1-2 h | 45-90 min | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 3-8 | 2-8 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Inception Canvas, Risks, Goal List, Open Questions | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | AlignmentArchitectureCanvas | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop |



