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Criterion
Affinity Diagramming
UX Research
Affinity Diagramming
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
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.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.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.Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumLowLow
Timedifferent
45–90 min1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung30–60 min per interview45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
3-103-20 Reviewer1 participant per interview2-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopAsyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areasRFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or ticketsInterview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan
Tagsno overlap
SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
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