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Selected:LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)Card SortingARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Assumption Mapping
| Criterion |  Architecture LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews) |  UX Research Card Sorting |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | When content only makes sense internally and users can't find the structure again, card sorting exposes their mental order. Terms, groups, and naming are then aligned with the target group's expectations. | 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. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional | 20-45 min | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 45-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people | Based on research question | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
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 checks | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean | Information architectureNavigationStructure | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation |