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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Evaporating CloudAssumption SurfacingATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
| Criterion |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  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. | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | 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 | Low | 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 | 2-8 | 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 | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | 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 | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders |