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| Criterion | ![]() Facilitation Mind Mapping | ![]() Architecture Request for Comments | ![]() Architecture Software Architecture Canvas | ![]() Facilitation Decision Jam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a topic is still unclear and too many thoughts surface at once, Mind Mapping creates an open surface for ordering them. It makes connections, subtopics, and starting points visible without fixing them too early. | 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. | 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. | When a decision is stuck, Decision Jam loosens the knot through structured separation of problem, idea, and selection. The format creates movement without jumping prematurely at the first seemingly elegant answer. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 1-2 h | 60-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-10 | 3-20 Reviewer | 3-10 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Mind Map, Topic Clusters, Open Questions | RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes | Problem Cluster, Prioritized Challenge, Experiment |
Tagsno overlap | BrainstormingIdeasMappingStructureFacilitation | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop | FacilitationDecisionProblem solvingWorkshop |



