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| Criterion | ![]() Product Strategy Lean Canvas | ![]() Decision Making Assumption Surfacing | ![]() Architecture Architecture Decision Record | ![]() Decision Making Argument Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When an early product bet still has too many open points, it brings target group, problem, and assumptions into a single view. It condenses the idea so core risks become nameable. | 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. | 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. | When statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 45-90 min | 15-45 min | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 1-6 | 2-8 | 1-3 | 1-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Lean Canvas, Core Assumptions, Experiment Backlog | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Argument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | StartupLeanAssumptionsBusiness model | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | SensemakingDecisionRationale |



