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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Software Architecture Canvas method illustration showing its working structure
Architecture
Software Architecture Canvas
Architecture Inception Canvas method illustration showing its working structure
Architecture
Architecture Inception 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.LASR helps development teams identify where their software falls short of important quality goals and which improvements to consider. A small group with existing system knowledge can make an initial assessment and investigate open questions in more detail.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.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumLowLow
Timedifferent
20–45 min3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional1-2 h1-2 h
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional group1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people3-103-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logLean Mission Statement describing the software’s purpose, Prioritized quality goals and evaluation criteria, Risks and estimated gaps against quality goals, More closely examined findings and open checksArchitecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality AttributesInception Canvas, Risks, Goal List, Open Questions
Tagsno overlap
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop
AlignmentArchitectureCanvas
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