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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Mind MappingConsensus WorkshopAlignment Mapping
| Criterion |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Facilitation Mind Mapping |  Facilitation Consensus Workshop |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When a topic is still unclear and too many thoughts surface at once, Mind Mapping creates an open surface for ordering them. It makes connections, subtopics, and starting points visible without fixing them too early. | When a group needs a solid decision without outvoting individual factions, a Consensus Workshop creates a negotiable common ground. It makes agreement, reservations, and open tensions discussable at the same time. | When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 15-45 min | 1-3 h | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 1-10 | 5-30 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Mind Map, Topic Clusters, Open Questions | Consensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | BrainstormingIdeasMappingStructureFacilitation | FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation |