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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)IBISAssumption SurfacingArchitecture Decision Record
| Criterion |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Knowledge Modeling IBIS |  Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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. | An ADR permanently records an architecture decision with context, trade-offs, and consequence. It creates continuity for later changes because the decision path stays traceable. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 1-3 h | 45-90 min | 15-45 min |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-8 | 2-8 | 1-3 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Issue Map, Positions, Argument Notes | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | RationaleKnowledgeDecision | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance |