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Criterion
Four paper collections for projects, responsibilities, resources and archives.
Knowledge Modeling
PARA Method
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 a decision table with criteria rows, weighted ratings, and a narrowly leading alternative.
Decision Making
Decision Matrix
Paper illustration for Trade-off Analysis.
Decision Making
Trade-off Analysis
Purposedifferent
The PARA Method organizes knowledge into Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives. It creates order when digital notes, files, and tasks no longer cleanly fit current work.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 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.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
MediumMediumMediumMedium
Timedifferent
1-3 h Setup, laufend3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional45-90 min45-120 min
Participantsdifferent
11 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people2-82-8
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
PARA Structure, Project Notes, Knowledge ArchiveLean 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 checksDecision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected OptionTrade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides
Tagsno overlap
KnowledgeProductivityOrganization
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs
TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions
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