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| Criterion |  Decision Making Decision Tree |  Architecture Request for Comments |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For decisions with follow-on paths and dependencies, a linear comparison is often not enough. A Decision Tree shows how options branch under conditions and which consequences hang on each branch. | An RFC clarifies architecture context, options, and consequences. It structures technical context, alternatives, tradeoffs, open questions, and review feedback, and captures the result as an RFC document, reviewer comments, and a decision rationale. | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 20–45 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-6 | 3-20 Reviewer | Small cross-functional group | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Decision Tree, Option Map, Assumption List | RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tags1 shared | DecisionTreeOptions | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |