methodatlas
Compare

View methods side by side.

Choose up to four methods. Add them using the search and share the comparison by copying its link.

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 team retrospective with three separate Start, Stop, and Continue areas and a shared action list.
Agile
Start Stop Continue
Paper illustration for Mad Sad Glad
Agile
Mad Sad Glad
Paper illustration for Starfish Retrospective
Agile
Starfish Retrospective
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 team wants to deliberately adjust its working behavior, it makes habits visible and assessable. It focuses on concrete changes instead of diffuse mood.When a team's or workshop's mood needs to become readable, it structures emotional signals with little setup. It makes strain, relief, and sources of energy tangible.When improvement options need to be sorted more finely than just start and stop, it brings observations into clear kinds of action. This makes visible what should be done more, less, newly, or continued.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowLowLow
Timedifferent
2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional30-60 min30-60 min45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
Designers, developers as users, and facilitation3-123-104-12
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsStart Stop Continue Board, Improvement ActionsEmotion Board, Themes, Action ItemsStarfish Board, Practice Changes, Experiments
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
RetrospectiveImprovementTeamReflection
RetrospectiveTeamReflection
RetrospectiveImprovementExperimentsTeam
Add more methods