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| Criterion | ![]() Systems Thinking Rich Picture | ![]() Systems Thinking CATWOE Analysis | ![]() Architecture Views and Beyond | ![]() Architecture arc42 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | A Rich Picture brings an unclear situation onto a shared drawing. It captures actors, tensions, information flows, and blind spots before the team jumps to solutions too early. | CATWOE structures a problem from six viewpoints and prevents too narrow a view of the situation. Different experiences of the system become comparably discussable this way. | Views and Beyond organizes architecture into several views so no single diagram has to do everything at once. This makes it possible to choose the representation that fits the stakeholder's question. | arc42 structures architecture knowledge so teams can document system, decisions, and risks consistently. The template builds a living understanding of the architecture instead of scattered notes. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 45-90 min | 1-3 Tage | 1-2 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 2-10 | 3-8 | 1-4 | 1-4 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Rich Picture, Problem Framing Notes | CATWOE Canvas, Root Definition, Stakeholder Perspectives, Constraints | Architecture Views, Cross-view Notes, Rationale | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View |
Tagsno overlap | Systems thinkingSoft systemsFramingVisualization | Systems thinkingFramingStakeholders | DocumentationStakeholdersArchitecture | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication |



