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| Criterion |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |
|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-120 min | 15-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 1-3 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance |
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