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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Argument Mapping C4 Model Architecture Decision Record

Criterion	Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)	Decision Making Argument Mapping	Architecture C4 Model	Architecture Architecture Decision Record
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 statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on.	The C4 Model makes a system legible across several resolution levels, from context down to code. It suits situations where different audiences need to understand the same architecture from different altitudes.	An ADR permanently records an architecture decision with context, trade-offs, and consequence. It creates continuity for later changes because the decision path stays traceable.
Complexitydifferent	Medium	Medium	Low	Low
Timedifferent	2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional	1-3 h	1-4 h	15-45 min
Participantsdifferent	Designers, developers as users, and facilitation	1-8	1-5	1-3
Formatdifferent	Workshop + async	Workshop + async	Workshop + async	Async
Outputdifferent	Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions	Argument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale	Context Diagram, Container Diagram, Component Diagram	ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale
Tagsno overlap	ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks	SensemakingDecisionRationale	ArchitectureCommunicationVisualization	ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance

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