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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 a MoSCoW board with four columns and a visible release boundary.
Delivery
MoSCoW
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
Paper illustration of a calibrated five-by-five risk matrix with response cards.
Decision Making
Risk Matrix
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 release carries too many demands and priorities are only ever negotiated, MoSCoW creates clear boundaries for the next cut. Must, Should, Could, and Won't make commitment, room for maneuver, and trade-off logic visible to everyone involved.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.When a project faces many possible disruptions, it quickly becomes unclear which risks deserve attention first. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Risk Matrix and a Top Risk List.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowLowLow
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional30-90 min45-90 min30-60 min
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitation3-122-83-10
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsPrioritized Backlog, Release Scope, Tradeoff NotesAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning PlanRisk Matrix, Top Risk List
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
PrioritizationScopeDecision
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
RiskDecisionPrioritizationAssessment
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