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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 Family Tree Analysis with its method-specific working model.
Operations
Family Tree Analysis
Causal Loop Diagram workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Systems Thinking
Causal Loop Diagram
Paper illustration for Current Reality Tree
Systems Thinking
Current 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.For a series of incidents with a similar pattern, the method arranges individual events as branches of a common origin. It makes visible which conditions keep recurring.A Causal Loop Diagram makes feedback, reinforcement, and balance in a system legible. It uncovers side effects and self-reinforcement that stay hidden in linear explanations.A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumMediumHigh
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional2-4 h1-3 h2-6 h
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitation2-62-83-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsFamily Tree Diagram, Pattern Notes, Systemic MeasuresCausal Loop Diagram, Feedback Notes, Leverage PointsCurrent Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
Root causePatternsIncidentSystemic
FeedbackSystems thinkingCausalityDynamics
Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality
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