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Selected:Constraint AnalysisARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Architecture Decision Recordarc42
| Criterion |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Architecture arc42 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped. | 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. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 15-45 min | 1-2 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 1-3 | 1-4 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View |
Tagsno overlap | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication |