methodatlas
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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)
Paper illustration for Alignment Mapping.
Facilitation
Alignment Mapping
A paper-based illustration representing Brainstorming with its core stages and visible working result.
Innovation
Brainstorming
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.When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable.When a team faces an open question with many obvious directions, the method first creates breadth instead of premature commitment. It separates idea flow from evaluation and makes lines of thought visible, creating a pool for selection and further development.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumLow
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional1-2 h30-60 min
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitation4-124-12
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsAlignment Map, Open Issues, Decision QuestionsIdea pool, Theme clusters, Shortlist
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation
BrainstormingIdeationCreativityWorkshopDivergence
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Often compared together

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

Paper illustration of the Lotus Blossom working structure.
Innovation
Lotus Blossom
Paper illustration for Round Robin Brainstorming
Innovation
Round Robin Brainstorming
Paper illustration of the Consensus Workshop working structure.
Facilitation
Consensus Workshop
Paper illustration of Design Charrette with its method-specific working model.
Innovation
Design Charrette