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Selected:arc42Causal Loop DiagramARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Behavior Over Time Graph
| Criterion | ![]() Architecture arc42 | ![]() Systems Thinking Causal Loop Diagram | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) | ![]() Systems Thinking Behavior Over Time Graph |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | A Causal Loop Diagram makes feedback, reinforcement, and balance in a system legible. It uncovers side effects and self-reinforcement that stay hidden in linear explanations. | 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. | A Behavior Over Time Graph shows how a metric or observation develops over time. The method makes trends, breaks, and recurring patterns visible that get lost in snapshots. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-2 Tage | 1-3 h | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 20-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | 2-8 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 1-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Causal Loop Diagram, Feedback Notes, Leverage Points | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Behavior Over Time Graph, Trend Hypotheses, Key Events |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | FeedbackSystems thinkingCausalityDynamics | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | Systems thinkingPatternsDynamics |



