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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture Views and Beyond | ![]() Decision Making Decision Matrix | ![]() Architecture Request for Comments | ![]() Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 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. | An RFC clarifies architecture context, options, and consequences. It structures technical context, alternatives, tradeoffs, open questions, and review feedback, and captures the result as an RFC document, reviewer comments, and a decision rationale. | 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. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Tage | 45-90 min | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 45-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | 2-8 | 3-20 Reviewer | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Views, Cross-view Notes, Rationale | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides |
Tagsno overlap | DocumentationStakeholdersArchitecture | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions |



