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Criterion
Paper illustration of two user profile cards with a goal, behavior evidence, and an open research question.
UX Research
Personas
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Paper illustration for Argument Mapping
Decision Making
Argument Mapping
Purposedifferent
When target groups stay too vague and teams talk about the same people differently, personas create a shared, solid picture of usage. Condensed profiles make needs, contexts, and differences tangible enough for decisions.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.An RFC clarifies architecture context, options, and consequences. It structures technical context, alternatives, tradeoffs, open questions, and review feedback, and captures the result as an RFC document, reviewer comments, and a decision rationale.When statements, evidence, and counterarguments get mixed up, a debate quickly loses its structure. Argument Mapping breaks a thesis down into its reasoning and makes visible what it really rests on.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowMediumMedium
Timedifferent
1-3 Tage15-45 min1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung1-3 h
Participantsdifferent
Internes Team1-33-20 Reviewer1-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncAsyncAsyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Persona Profiles, Needs Summary, Scenario NotesADR File, Decision Log, RationaleRFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or ticketsArgument Map, Evidence Gaps, Decision Rationale
Tagsno overlap
ResearchCustomerSynthesis
ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
SensemakingDecisionRationale
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