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| Criterion |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Architecture Architecture Inception Canvas |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | 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. | The Architecture Inception Canvas bundles the first architecture questions into a compact decision picture. It fits when an initiative is still in motion but still needs clear guardrails. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Inception Canvas, Risks, Goal List, Open Questions |
Tagsno overlap | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | AlignmentArchitectureCanvas |
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