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| Criterion | ![]() Decision Making Pre-Mortem | ![]() Architecture Architecture Decision Record | ![]() Decision Making Red Teaming | ![]() Decision Making Argument Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures. | 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. | For strategic decisions with high reach, agreement and gut feeling are often not enough. Red teaming brings deliberate opposition into the situation and tests where a plan breaks under real counterarguments. | 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 | Low | Low | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 20–45 min | 15-45 min | 1-4 h | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | Small cross-functional group | 1-3 | 3-8 | 1-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Challenge Findings, Risk Register, Mitigation Plan | Argument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | RiskDecisionSensemaking | SensemakingDecisionRationale |



