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| Criterion |  Architecture arc42 |  Innovation Design Sprint |  Innovation Design Thinking |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When the product question is unclear and time pressure is high, the method takes a team from an open idea to a testable solution. It connects problem understanding, decision, and learning in one compact format, lowering the risk of spending a lot of energy on a mere guess. | For complex user problems with an uncertain cause, the method connects observation, interpretation, and experiment into a learning cycle. It keeps the focus on real needs and avoids premature solution language. This produces robust decisions for product and service. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | High | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-2 Tage | 4-5 Tage | 1 Tag bis mehrere Wochen | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | 5-8 | 4-10 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Prototype, Test Findings, Decision Rationale | Problem Statement, Prototype, Test Learnings | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | Design sprintPrototypeValidationInnovation | InnovationPrototypeResearch | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks |