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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)
Decision Tree method illustration showing its working structure
Decision Making
Decision Tree
Paper illustration for Argument Mapping
Decision Making
Argument Mapping
Paper illustration of an IBIS map with issues, positions and arguments
Knowledge Modeling
IBIS
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 decisions with follow-on paths and dependencies, a linear comparison is often not enough. A Decision Tree shows how options branch under conditions and which consequences hang on each branch.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.IBIS structures thinking about complex questions as a sequence of issues, ideas, and arguments. The method keeps discussions open without forcing them into premature consensus.
Complexitysame
MediumMediumMediumMedium
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional30-90 min1-3 h1-3 h
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitation1-61-82-8
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsDecision Tree, Option Map, Assumption ListArgument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision RationaleIssue Map, Positions, Argument Notes
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
DecisionTreeOptions
SensemakingDecisionRationale
RationaleKnowledgeDecision
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