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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Decision Framing WorkshopDecision MatrixATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
| Criterion |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Decision Making Decision Framing Workshop |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  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. | When a decision is poorly framed, even good answers deliver little value. A Decision Framing Workshop sharpens the problem, goal, and boundaries before the actual weighing begins. | When several options collide with several criteria, comparison quickly becomes subjective. A Decision Matrix makes the trade-off visible and brings weighting, criteria, and options into a shared logic. | 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 | Medium | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 60-120 min | 45-90 min | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 4-10 | 2-8 | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Decision Frame, Decision Question, Criteria List, Evidence Plan | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | 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 | Decision framingAlignmentCriteriaOptions | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders |