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| Criterion |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Architecture Software Architecture Canvas |  Architecture Risk Storming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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. | Helps clarify architecture context, options, and consequences in concrete terms. It organizes technical context, alternatives, and consequences. The result is captured as an Annotated Diagram, a Prioritized Risk List, and an Action Backlog. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 20–45 min | 45-90 min | 1-2 h | 60-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | Small cross-functional group | 2-8 | 3-10 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes | Annotated Diagram, Prioritized Risk List, Action Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop | RiskArchitectureWorkshopValidation |