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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Evaporating CloudSAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)Future Reality Tree
| Criterion |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |  Systems Thinking Future Reality Tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | SAAM helps teams judge an architecture’s suitability for selected tasks and changes. It is particularly useful for examining modifiability and comparing architecture alternatives with clear reasoning. | A Future Reality Tree shows how desired actions are meant to lead to a better system state. The method checks whether a path of change holds together logically before time flows into implementation. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | High | High |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 60-120 min | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-8 | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 3-8 |
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 | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Domain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternatives | Future Reality Tree, Negative Branches, Assumption List, Improved Injections |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | Theory of ConstraintsSystems thinkingChange |