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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture C4 Model | ![]() Delivery Cost of Delay | ![]() Decision Making Assumption Surfacing | ![]() Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The C4 Model makes a system legible across several resolution levels, from context down to code. It suits situations where different audiences need to understand the same architecture from different altitudes. | Helps clarify scope, order, and delivery flow in concrete terms. It makes work, constraints, and sequence manageable. The result is captured as a Cost of Delay table and prioritization sequence. | 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. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 h | 90-180 min | 45-90 min | 45-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-5 | 3-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Context Diagram, Container Diagram, Component Diagram | CoD Table, Prioritization Sequence | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureCommunicationVisualization | PrioritizationDeliveryEconomicsDecision | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation |



