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Criterion
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Purposedifferent
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.ARID examines how well developers can work with a technical design. It focuses on a part of the system that can still be revised, between the architecture overview and the detailed specification.For a deviation after a change, the method isolates the influence of the altered condition. It narrows down which differences are relevant and which are just accompanying noise.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumMedium
Timedifferent
15-45 min2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional45-120 min
Participantsdifferent
1-3Designers, developers as users, and facilitation2-6
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
ADR File, Decision Log, RationalePrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsChange Matrix, Cause Hypotheses, Validation Questions, Action List
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
ChangeRoot causeTroubleshootingComparison
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper illustration for Fault Isolation.
Engineering
Fault Isolation
Paper illustration for Golden Path
Engineering
Golden Path