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Selected:Architecture Decision Record User Interviews Fishbone Diagram Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

Criterion	Architecture Architecture Decision Record	UX Research User Interviews	Operations Fishbone Diagram	Operations Failure Mode and Effects 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.	When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible.	When a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers.	For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability.
Complexitydifferent	Low	Low	Low	High
Timedifferent	15-45 min	30–60 min per interview	30-60 min	2-6 h
Participantsdifferent	1-3	1 participant per interview	2-8	3-10
Formatdifferent	Async	Workshop + async	Workshop	Workshop
Outputdifferent	ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale	Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary	Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog	FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions
Tagsno overlap	ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance	QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery	Root causeQualityOperations	RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause

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