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| Criterion |  Architecture C4 Model |  Architecture Quality Attribute Workshop |  Innovation Starbursting |  Innovation Lotus Blossom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | A Quality Attribute Workshop translates quality requirements into concrete scenarios and architecture impulses. The method brings product, engineering, and operations to the same view of desired properties. | Helps clarify ideas, open questions, and testable next steps in concrete terms. It opens the thinking space, collects ideas, and leads to testable options. The result is captured as a star-shaped question map, question list, and assumption list. | When a central question feels too large, the method breaks it into neighboring topic fields with their own depth of ideation. It holds structure and openness at the same time, so adjacent perspectives don't get lost. This grows an idea space out of a core problem. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-4 h | 2-4 h | 30-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-5 | 5-15 | 3-10 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Context Diagram, Container Diagram, Component Diagram | Quality Scenarios, Priority List, Architecture Concerns | Star-Shaped Question Map, Question List, Assumption List | Lotus Diagram, Idea Themes, Shortlist |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureCommunicationVisualization | RequirementsArchitectureWorkshop | BrainstormingIdeationWorkshopDiscovery | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityDivergenceWorkshop |