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| Criterion |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |  Product Discovery Fake Door Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. | When demand is still unclear, it measures interest in a feature before it is built. It separates real behavior from polite agreement and deliberately keeps build effort small. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 15-45 min | 1-5 Tage | 45-60 min | 1-5 Tage |
Participantsdifferent | 1-3 | Nutzertraffic | 2-8 | Nutzertraffic |
Formatdifferent | Async | Async | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking | Click Data, Interest Signal, Learning Decision |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation | ValidationExperimentsDemandDiscovery |