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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Assumption SurfacingUser InterviewsATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
| Criterion |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  UX Research User Interviews |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible. | ATAM helps teams weigh architecture decisions when quality goals compete. The team considers business goals, stakeholder expectations, and technical decisions together. The evaluation shows which risks need further investigation. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 45-90 min | 30–60 min per interview | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-8 | 1 participant per interview | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders |