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Criterion
Software Architecture Canvas method illustration showing its working structure
Architecture
Software Architecture Canvas
Paper illustration of a four-quadrant grid with tasks sorted by importance and urgency and translated into actions.
Decision Making
Eisenhower Matrix
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration of the Consensus Workshop working structure.
Facilitation
Consensus Workshop
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.It separates true priorities from noise so it becomes clear what should be done now, scheduled, delegated, or dropped.ARID examines how well developers can work with a technical design. It focuses on a part of the system that can still be revised, between the architecture overview and the detailed specification.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowLowMediumMedium
Timedifferent
1-2 h15-30 min2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional1-3 h
Participantsdifferent
3-101-6Designers, developers as users, and facilitation5-30
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality AttributesEisenhower Matrix, Action List, Delegation NotesPrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsConsensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas
Tagsno overlap
CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop
PrioritizationFocusTasks
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment
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