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Criterion
Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
Paper illustration for Affinity Estimation.
Agile
Affinity Estimation
Paper illustration for Dot Estimation.
Facilitation
Dot Estimation
Purposedifferent
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.An ADR permanently records an architecture decision with context, trade-offs, and consequence. It creates continuity for later changes because the decision path stays traceable.When many tasks need to be classified quickly, it sorts them by perceived effort and similarity. It reduces the effort of fine-grained estimation for large volumes.When size or effort can only be estimated roughly, Dot Estimation condenses the group's experience into a quick range. It turns individual contributions into a visible selection. The result is captured as an Effort Heatmap, Risk Signals, and Discussion Targets.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowMediumLow
Timedifferent
3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional15-45 min30-90 min5-20 min
Participantsdifferent
1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people1-33-123-20
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncAsyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
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 checksADR File, Decision Log, RationaleAffinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear ItemsEffort Heatmap, Risk Signals, Discussion Targets
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
EstimationBacklogRelative sizing
EstimationEffortRisk
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