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Criterion
Paper illustration of RAID Log with a method-specific labelled workspace.
Delivery
RAID Log
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
Paper illustration for Trade-off Analysis.
Decision Making
Trade-off Analysis
Purposedifferent
Helps clarify scope, sequence, and delivery flow in concrete terms. It makes work, boundaries, and order steerable. The result is captured as a RAID Log and a source for status reporting.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.With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects.
Complexitydifferent
LowLowMedium
Timedifferent
30 min Setup, dann laufend15-45 min45-120 min
Participantsdifferent
1-3 maintaining, briefing for everyone1-32-8
Formatdifferent
AsyncAsyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
RAID Log, Status Report SourceADR File, Decision Log, RationaleTrade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides
Tagsno overlap
RiskTrackingStakeholdersGovernance
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of a decision table with criteria rows, weighted ratings, and a narrowly leading alternative.
Decision Making
Decision Matrix
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Views and Beyond method illustration showing its working structure
Architecture
Views and Beyond