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| Criterion |  Business Strategy Strategy Execution Loop |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Decision Making Argument Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The Strategy Execution Loop helps avoid treating strategy as a one-off document. It makes visible how strategic decisions are turned into objectives, initiatives, operational work, measurement, and learning. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | 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 statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | Initial 3-6 h, then monthly or quarterly reviews | 45-90 min | 15-45 min | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 5-12 | 2-8 | 1-3 | 1-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Execution Loop, Review Cadence, Strategic Learning Log | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Argument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | ExecutionCadenceLearningGovernance | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | SensemakingDecisionRationale |