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| Criterion |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Architecture Software Architecture Canvas |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |  Facilitation Consensus Workshop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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 several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. | When a group needs a solid decision without outvoting individual factions, a Consensus Workshop creates a negotiable common ground. It makes agreement, reservations, and open tensions discussable at the same time. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 20–45 min | 1-2 h | 1-2 h | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | Small cross-functional group | 3-10 | 4-12 | 5-30 |
Formatsame | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions | Consensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation | FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment |