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| Criterion | ![]() Decision Making Trade-off Analysis | ![]() Architecture Views and Beyond | ![]() Decision Making Risk Matrix | ![]() Architecture arc42 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | Views and Beyond organizes architecture into several views so no single diagram has to do everything at once. This makes it possible to choose the representation that fits the stakeholder's question. | When a project faces many possible disruptions, it quickly becomes unclear which risks deserve attention first. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Risk Matrix and a Top Risk List. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 45-120 min | 1-3 Tage | 30-60 min | 1-2 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 1-4 | 3-10 | 1-4 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Architecture Views, Cross-view Notes, Rationale | Risk Matrix, Top Risk List | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View |
Tagsno overlap | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | DocumentationStakeholdersArchitecture | RiskDecisionPrioritizationAssessment | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication |



