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| Criterion |  Business Strategy 5-Minuten VC-Check |  Architecture C4 Model |  Delivery Communication Plan |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The 5-Minute VC Check clarifies opportunities and strategic options at the earliest idea stage. It compares problem quality, customer willingness to pay, alternatives, differentiation, and market potential, and captures the result as a VC-check note, go/sharpen/park decision, and risk list. | 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. | When many people need to be informed in parallel and messages would otherwise arrive unevenly or too late, a Communication Plan orders communication reliably. Channels, audiences, and cadences interlock so important information doesn't get lost. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 5-15 min | 1-4 h | 45-90 min | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional |
Participantsdifferent | 1-5 | 1-5 | 2-6 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | VC-check note, Go/sharpen/park decision, Risk and assumption list, Next validation step | Context Diagram, Container Diagram, Component Diagram | Communication Plan, Channel Matrix, Message Cadence | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions |
Tagsno overlap | StartupValidationCompetition | ArchitectureCommunicationVisualization | CommunicationStakeholdersDeliveryPlanning | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks |