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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) | ![]() Operations Barrier Analysis | ![]() Product Discovery Smoke Test | ![]() Operations 5 Whys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 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. | When demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 2-4 h | 1-5 Tage | 15-30 min |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-6 | Nutzertraffic | 2-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Root cause notes, Countermeasures |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | Root causeSafetyIncident | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving |



