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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture Request for Comments | ![]() Decision Making Pre-Mortem | ![]() Decision Making Argument Mapping | ![]() Decision Making Constraint Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | An RFC clarifies architecture context, options, and consequences. It structures technical context, alternatives, tradeoffs, open questions, and review feedback, and captures the result as an RFC document, reviewer comments, and a decision rationale. | 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 statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 20–45 min | 1-3 h | 30-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-20 Reviewer | Small cross-functional group | 1-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | Argument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries |
Tags1 shared | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | SensemakingDecisionRationale | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions |



