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Criterion
Paper illustration of Futures Wheel with its method-specific working model.
Systems Thinking
Futures Wheel
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration of Five-Minute VC Check with its method-specific working model.
Business Strategy
5-Minuten VC-Check
Purposedifferent
The Futures Wheel helps explore the consequences of a decision, a trend, or a strategic move in a structured way. It makes visible which first, second, and third-order effects could arise from an event.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.The 5-Minute VC Check clarifies opportunities and strategic options at the earliest idea stage. It compares problem quality, customer willingness to pay, alternatives, differentiation, and market potential, and captures the result as a VC-check note, go/sharpen/park decision, and risk list.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumLow
Timedifferent
60-120 min2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional5-15 min
Participantsdifferent
3-10Designers, developers as users, and facilitation1-5
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Futures Wheel, Consequence Chains, Strategic SignalsPrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsVC-check note, Go/sharpen/park decision, Risk and assumption list, Next validation step
Tagsno overlap
ForesightSystems thinkingSignals
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
StartupValidationCompetition
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Causal Loop Diagram workspace showing the question, observations, and next decision.
Systems Thinking
Causal Loop Diagram
Paper illustration of Lean Startup with its method-specific working model.
Innovation
Lean Startup
Paper illustration for Risk Storming.
Architecture
Risk Storming
Stock and Flow Diagram method illustration showing its working structure
Systems Thinking
Stock and Flow Diagram