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| Criterion |  Product Strategy GIST Planning |  Product Discovery Opportunity Solution Tree |  Architecture arc42 |  Architecture C4 Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | GIST Planning helps clarify target groups, value, goals, and priorities. It links customer value, product logic, and decision priorities, and captures the result as goals, an idea bank, and a step-project list. | When discovery keeps swinging between goals, ideas, and learning loops, it creates clear steering logic. It connects the desired outcome, opportunities, and experiments into a legible structure. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | Wochen bis Monate je Goal | 1-2 h Setup, laufend | 1-2 Tage | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 2-6 | 1-4 | 1-5 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Goals, Idea bank, Step-project list, Tasks, Learning reports | Opportunity Solution Tree, Experiment Backlog, Learning Log | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Context Diagram, Container Diagram, Component Diagram |
Tagsno overlap | RoadmapOutcomesPlanningExperiments | DiscoveryOutcomesExperimentsOpportunity | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | ArchitectureCommunicationVisualization |