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| Criterion |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Architecture Risk Storming |  Architecture arc42 |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | Helps clarify architecture context, options, and consequences in concrete terms. It organizes technical context, alternatives, and consequences. The result is captured as an Annotated Diagram, a Prioritized Risk List, and an Action Backlog. | 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. | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 60-90 min | 1-2 Tage | 45-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 4-12 | 1-4 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Annotated Diagram, Prioritized Risk List, Action Backlog | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides |
Tagsno overlap | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | RiskArchitectureWorkshopValidation | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions |