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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
Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Stakeholder Mapping
Facilitation
Stakeholder Mapping
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.LASR helps development teams identify where their software falls short of important quality goals and which improvements to consider. A small group with existing system knowledge can make an initial assessment and investigate open questions in more detail.When an initiative depends on many people, interests, and power dynamics, Stakeholder Mapping systematically orders the environment. It shows who influences, who is affected, and where relationship management or safeguarding matters first.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumMediumLow
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional1-2 h3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional60–90 min
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitation4-121 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people2-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsAlignment Map, Open Issues, Decision QuestionsLean Mission Statement describing the software’s purpose, Prioritized quality goals and evaluation criteria, Risks and estimated gaps against quality goals, More closely examined findings and open checksStakeholder Map, Engagement Plan, Risk Notes
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
StakeholdersAlignmentFacilitationChange
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