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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Empathy Mapping Assumption Mapping Affinity Diagramming

Criterion	Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)	UX Research Empathy Mapping	Product Discovery Assumption Mapping	UX Research Affinity Diagramming
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 lot is assumed about a target group but little is seen jointly, empathy mapping makes knowledge and gaps directly comparable. The picture also shows which assumptions hold up and where evidence is missing.	When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first.	When research notes, feedback, or observations sit unconnected side by side, affinity diagramming sorts the raw material into solid themes. Many individual points turn into patterns that make decisions and opportunities clearer.
Complexitydifferent	Medium	Low	Medium	Low
Timedifferent	2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional	30–60 min	45-60 min	45–90 min
Participantsdifferent	Designers, developers as users, and facilitation	4-8	2-8	3-10
Formatdifferent	Workshop + async	Workshop	Workshop + async	Workshop
Outputdifferent	Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions	Empathy Map, Assumptions List, Research Gaps	Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking	Theme clusters, Insight statements, Opportunity areas
Tagsno overlap	ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks	SynthesisQualitativeWorkshop	AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation	SynthesisQualitativeRoot cause

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