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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)Riskiest Assumption TestAssumption Surfacing
| Criterion | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) | ![]() Architecture LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews) | ![]() Product Discovery Riskiest Assumption Test | ![]() Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | LASR helps development teams identify where their software falls short of important quality goals and which improvements to consider. A small group with existing system knowledge can make an initial assessment and investigate open questions in more detail. | When an idea hinges on one critical unknown, it prioritizes testing that exact piece of uncertainty first. It separates problem, assumption, solution, and evidence. The result is captured as a prioritized list of assumptions, a test plan, and a result report. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional | 1-2 Wochen pro Iteration | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people | 2-6 | 2-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Lean Mission Statement describing the software’s purpose, Prioritized quality goals and evaluation criteria, Risks and estimated gaps against quality goals, More closely examined findings and open checks | Prioritized Assumption List, Test Plan, Results Report | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryAssumptions | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |



