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| Criterion | ![]() Agile Starfish Retrospective | ![]() Agile Mad Sad Glad | ![]() Architecture arc42 | ![]() Agile 4Ls 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. | 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. | arc42 structures architecture knowledge so teams can document system, decisions, and risks consistently. The template builds a living understanding of the architecture instead of scattered notes. | When a sprint should not only be assessed but also learned from, it captures experience in clear learning categories. It records what worked, what's missing, and what should run differently next time. |
Complexitysame | Low | Low | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 30-60 min | 1-2 Tage | 45–75 min |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 | 3-10 | 1-4 | Team members involved |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Starfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments | Emotion Board, Themes, Action Items | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | 4Ls Board, Learning Themes, Improvement Actions |
Tagsno overlap | RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam | RetrospectiveTeamReflection | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | RetrospectiveLearningReflectionTeam |



