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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture Request for Comments | ![]() Agile Starfish Retrospective | ![]() Architecture Architecture Decision Record | ![]() Agile 4Ls Retrospective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When improvement options need to be sorted more finely than just start and stop, it brings observations into clear kinds of action. This makes visible what should be done more, less, newly, or continued. | 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. | When a sprint should not only be assessed but also learned from, it captures experience in clear learning categories. It records what worked, what's missing, and what should run differently next time. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 45-90 min | 15-45 min | 45–75 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-20 Reviewer | 4-12 | 1-3 | Team members involved |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam |



