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| Criterion | ![]() Engineering Golden Path | ![]() Architecture Request for Comments | ![]() Facilitation Consensus Workshop | ![]() Architecture Software Architecture Canvas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When teams need a reliable default path for frequent use, sprawl quickly emerges without any guiding logic. Golden Path bundles the preferred path so good practice becomes easy and deviation becomes deliberate. | 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. | When a group needs a solid decision without outvoting individual factions, a Consensus Workshop creates a negotiable common ground. It makes agreement, reservations, and open tensions discussable at the same time. | The Software Architecture Canvas reduces a system to the most important architecture decisions, constraints, and interfaces. It is useful when teams need a resilient overall picture quickly. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Tage Setup, laufend | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 1-3 h | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 3-20 Reviewer | 5-30 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Golden Path Guide, Templates, Quality Checks | RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets | Consensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes |
Tagsno overlap | EngineeringProductivityGovernance | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop |



