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Selected:Affinity Diagramming arc42 ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Architecture Decision Record

Criterion	UX Research Affinity Diagramming	Architecture arc42	Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)	Architecture Architecture Decision Record
Purposedifferent	When research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer.	arc42 structures architecture knowledge so teams can document system, decisions, and risks consistently. The template builds a living understanding of the architecture instead of scattered notes.	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.	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.
Complexitydifferent	Low	Low	Medium	Low
Timedifferent	45–90 min	1-2 Tage	2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional	15-45 min
Participantsdifferent	3-10	1-4	Designers, developers as users, and facilitation	1-3
Formatdifferent	Workshop	Workshop + async	Workshop + async	Async
Outputdifferent	Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas	Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View	Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions	ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale
Tagsno overlap	SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause	ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication	ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks	ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance

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