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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture Views and Beyond | ![]() Facilitation Alignment Mapping | ![]() Decision Making Trade-off Analysis | ![]() Decision Making Decision Matrix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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 several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. | 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. | When several options collide with several criteria, comparison quickly becomes subjective. A Decision Matrix makes the trade-off visible and brings weighting, criteria, and options into a shared logic. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Tage | 1-2 h | 45-120 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | 4-12 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Views, Cross-view Notes, Rationale | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option |
Tagsno overlap | DocumentationStakeholdersArchitecture | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs |



