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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Constraint AnalysisCurrent Reality TreeCausal Loop Diagram
| Criterion | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) | ![]() Decision Making Constraint Analysis | ![]() Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree | ![]() Systems Thinking Causal Loop Diagram |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. | A Causal Loop Diagram makes feedback, reinforcement, and balance in a system legible. It uncovers side effects and self-reinforcement that stay hidden in linear explanations. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 30-90 min | 2-6 h | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-8 | 3-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas | Causal Loop Diagram, Feedback Notes, Leverage Points |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality | FeedbackSystems thinkingCausalityDynamics |



