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| Criterion |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Operations 5 Whys |  Operations Kepner-Tregoe |  Operations Barrier Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | For a disturbance that's hard to pin down, the method cleanly separates problem, cause, and decision. It reduces mixing when symptoms allow several interpretations. | For a risk that can only be managed through multiple layers of protection, the method examines the effectiveness of each barrier. It shows where safeguards are missing, too weak, or fail under real conditions. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 15-30 min | 2-8 h | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-6 | 2-8 | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis, Risk Plan | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | Problem solvingRoot causeDecisionOperations | Root causeSafetyIncident |