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| Criterion |  Architecture Request for Comments |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Decision Making Risk Matrix |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 a project faces many possible disruptions, it quickly becomes unclear which risks deserve attention first. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Risk Matrix and a Top Risk List. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 20–45 min | 30-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-20 Reviewer | Small cross-functional group | 3-10 | 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 | Risk Matrix, Top Risk List | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tags1 shared | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | RiskDecisionPrioritizationAssessment | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |