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Selected:Decision MatrixLASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Trade-off Analysis
| Criterion |  Decision Making Decision Matrix |  Architecture LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews) |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Decision Making Trade-off Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When several options collide with several criteria, comparison quickly becomes subjective. A Decision Matrix makes the trade-off visible and brings weighting, criteria, and options into a shared logic. | LASR helps development teams identify where their software falls short of important quality goals and which improvements to consider. A small group with existing system knowledge can make an initial assessment and investigate open questions in more detail. | 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. | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. |
Complexitysame | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-90 min | 3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 45-120 min |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected Option | Lean Mission Statement describing the software’s purpose, Prioritized quality goals and evaluation criteria, Risks and estimated gaps against quality goals, More closely examined findings and open checks | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides |
Tagsno overlap | DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs | ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions |