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| Criterion |  Architecture Software Architecture Canvas |  Architecture Architecture Inception Canvas |  Innovation Starbursting |  Innovation Lotus Blossom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | 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. | Helps clarify ideas, open questions, and testable next steps in concrete terms. It opens the thinking space, collects ideas, and leads to testable options. The result is captured as a star-shaped question map, question list, and assumption list. | 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. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h | 1-2 h | 30-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 3-8 | 3-10 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes | Inception Canvas, Risks, Goal List, Open Questions | Star-Shaped Question Map, Question List, Assumption List | Lotus Diagram, Idea Themes, Shortlist |
Tagsno overlap | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop | AlignmentArchitectureCanvas | BrainstormingIdeationWorkshopDiscovery | BrainstormingIdeationCreativityDivergenceWorkshop |