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Criterion
Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Rich Picture workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Systems Thinking
Rich Picture
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
A paper-based illustration representing C4 Model with its core stages and visible working result.
Architecture
C4 Model
Purposedifferent
LASR helps development teams identify where their software falls short of important quality goals and which improvements to consider. A small group with existing system knowledge can make an initial assessment and investigate open questions in more detail.A Rich Picture brings an unclear situation onto a shared drawing. It captures actors, tensions, information flows, and blind spots before the team jumps to solutions too early.An ADR permanently records an architecture decision with context, trade-offs, and consequence. It creates continuity for later changes because the decision path stays traceable.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
MediumLowLowLow
Timedifferent
3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional30-90 min15-45 min1-4 h
Participantsdifferent
1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people2-101-31-5
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopAsyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Lean Mission Statement describing the software’s purpose, Prioritized quality goals and evaluation criteria, Risks and estimated gaps against quality goals, More closely examined findings and open checksRich Picture, Problem Framing NotesADR File, Decision Log, RationaleContext Diagram, Container Diagram, Component Diagram
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
Systems thinkingSoft systemsFramingVisualization
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
ArchitectureCommunicationVisualization
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