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| Criterion |  Agile Starfish Retrospective |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Agile Mad Sad Glad |  Agile Sailboat Retrospective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When improvement options need to be sorted more finely than just start and stop, it brings observations into clear kinds of action. This makes visible what should be done more, less, newly, or continued. | An ADR permanently records an architecture decision with context, trade-offs, and consequence. It creates continuity for later changes because the decision path stays traceable. | When a team's or workshop's mood needs to become readable, it structures emotional signals with little setup. It makes strain, relief, and sources of energy tangible. | When a team wants to read momentum, brakes, and risks together, it offers an easily understandable picture of the situation. It makes drive, obstacles, and headwind visible in the same picture. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 15-45 min | 30-60 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 | 1-3 | 3-10 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Emotion Board, Themes, Action Items | Sailboat Board, Risks, Improvement Actions |
Tagsno overlap | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | RetrospectiveTeamReflection | RetrospectiveTeamImprovement |