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Criterion
Paper illustration of the Lightning Decision Jam working structure.
Facilitation
Decision Jam
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Purposedifferent
When a decision is stuck, Decision Jam loosens the knot through structured separation of problem, idea, and selection. The format creates movement without jumping prematurely at the first seemingly elegant answer.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.An RFC clarifies architecture context, options, and consequences. It structures technical context, alternatives, tradeoffs, open questions, and review feedback, and captures the result as an RFC document, reviewer comments, and a decision rationale.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumMedium
Timedifferent
60-90 min2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung
Participantsdifferent
4-10Designers, developers as users, and facilitation3-20 Reviewer
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncAsync
Outputdifferent
Problem Cluster, Prioritized Challenge, ExperimentPrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsRFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets
Tagsno overlap
FacilitationDecisionProblem solvingWorkshop
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration for Risk Storming.
Architecture
Risk Storming
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
Paper illustration of the Consensus Workshop working structure.
Facilitation
Consensus Workshop