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Criterion
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
A 5 Whys working surface connects an observable problem with evidenced causes, marked uncertainty and concrete countermeasures with ownership.
Operations
5 Whys
Paper illustration for Current Reality Tree
Systems Thinking
Current Reality Tree
Purposedifferent
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.For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description.A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowHigh
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional15-30 min2-6 h
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitation2-63-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsRoot cause notes, CountermeasuresCurrent Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving
Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Causal Factor Analysis.
Operations
Causal Factor Analysis
Causal Loop Diagram workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Systems Thinking
Causal Loop Diagram
Paper illustration for Root Cause Analysis.
Operations
Root Cause Analysis
Paper illustration for Theory of Constraints Thinking Process.
Systems Thinking
Theory of Constraints Thinking Process