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| Criterion |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Architecture Architecture Inception Canvas |  Architecture Software Architecture Canvas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped. | The Architecture Inception Canvas bundles the first architecture questions into a compact decision picture. It fits when an initiative is still in motion but still needs clear guardrails. | 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. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 20–45 min | 30-90 min | 1-2 h | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | Small cross-functional group | 2-8 | 3-8 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Inception Canvas, Risks, Goal List, Open Questions | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | AlignmentArchitectureCanvas | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop |