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Criterion
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration of the Lightning Decision Jam working structure.
Facilitation
Decision Jam
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
Paper illustration for Argument Mapping
Decision Making
Argument Mapping
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 stuck, Decision Jam loosens the knot through structured separation of problem, idea, and selection. The format creates movement without jumping prematurely at the first seemingly elegant answer.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.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.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowLowMedium
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional60-90 min15-45 min1-3 h
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitation4-101-31-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopAsyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsProblem Cluster, Prioritized Challenge, ExperimentADR File, Decision Log, RationaleArgument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
FacilitationDecisionProblem solvingWorkshop
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
SensemakingDecisionRationale
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