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| Criterion |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Architecture arc42 |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | 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. | 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 | 45-90 min | 1-2 Tage | 45-90 min | 45-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 1-4 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides |
Tagsno overlap | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions |