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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture Software Architecture Canvas | ![]() Facilitation Consensus Workshop | ![]() Agile Affinity Estimation | ![]() Facilitation Alignment Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When a group needs a solid decision without outvoting individual factions, a Consensus Workshop creates a negotiable common ground. It makes agreement, reservations, and open tensions discussable at the same time. | When many tasks need to be classified quickly, it sorts them by perceived effort and similarity. It reduces the effort of fine-grained estimation for large volumes. | When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h | 1-3 h | 30-90 min | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 5-30 | 3-12 | 4-12 |
Formatsame | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes | Consensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas | Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions |
Tagsno overlap | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop | FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation |



