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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 a decision table with criteria rows, weighted ratings, and a narrowly leading alternative.
Decision Making
Decision Matrix
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
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 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.An RFC clarifies architecture context, options, and consequences. It structures technical context, alternatives, tradeoffs, open questions, and review feedback, and captures the result as an RFC document, reviewer comments, and a decision rationale.
Complexitysame
MediumMediumMedium
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional45-90 min1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitation2-83-20 Reviewer
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncAsync
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsDecision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected OptionRFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Trade-off Analysis.
Decision Making
Trade-off Analysis
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)