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| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Rich Picture |  Architecture Software Architecture Canvas |  Innovation Lotus Blossom |  Architecture Architecture Inception Canvas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | The Software Architecture Canvas reduces a system to the most important architecture decisions, constraints, and interfaces. It is useful when teams need a resilient overall picture quickly. | When a central question feels too large, the method breaks it into neighboring topic fields with their own depth of ideation. It holds structure and openness at the same time, so adjacent perspectives don't get lost. This grows an idea space out of a core problem. | The Architecture Inception Canvas bundles the first architecture questions into a compact decision picture. It fits when an initiative is still in motion but still needs clear guardrails. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 30-90 min | 1-2 h | 45-90 min | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-10 | 3-10 | 3-10 | 3-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Rich Picture, Problem Framing Notes | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes | Lotus Diagram, Idea Themes, Shortlist | Inception Canvas, Risks, Goal List, Open Questions |
Tagsno overlap | Systems thinkingSoft systemsFramingVisualization | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityDivergenceWorkshop | AlignmentArchitectureCanvas |