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Selected:Causal Loop DiagramWardley MappingARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Current Reality Tree
| Criterion |  Systems Thinking Causal Loop Diagram |  Systems Thinking Wardley Mapping |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | A Causal Loop Diagram makes feedback, reinforcement, and balance in a system legible. It uncovers side effects and self-reinforcement that stay hidden in linear explanations. | Wardley Mapping makes visible where an offering stands today and where it can evolve. The method connects user need, value chain, and evolution stages into a strategic basis for platform, build, or buy decisions. | 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. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 1-3 h | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 2-10 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Causal Loop Diagram, Feedback Notes, Leverage Points | Wardley Map, Strategic Options, Evolution Notes | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas |
Tagsno overlap | FeedbackSystems thinkingCausalityDynamics | StrategySystems thinkingDynamics | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality |