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| Criterion |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Decision Making Decision Rights Mapping |  Decision Making Argument Mapping |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | In organizations with many stakeholders, it often blurs who actually decides and who is merely consulted. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Decision Rights matrix and an agreement. | When statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 90-180 min | 1-3 h | 15-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 4-12 | 1-8 | 1-3 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Decision Rights Matrix, Agreement | Argument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | DecisionGovernanceAlignmentResponsibility | SensemakingDecisionRationale | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance |