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Selected:Polarity MappingARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Evaporating CloudFuture Reality Tree
| Criterion | ![]() Systems Thinking Polarity Mapping | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) | ![]() Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud | ![]() Systems Thinking Future Reality Tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | Polarity Mapping makes tensions between two opposing poles tangible, such as standardization and adaptation or control and autonomy. The method guards against making apparent either-or decisions prematurely. | 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 method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | A Future Reality Tree shows how desired actions are meant to lead to a better system state. The method checks whether a path of change holds together logically before time flows into implementation. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 60-120 min | 2-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-12 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 2-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Polarity Map, Warning Signs, Balance Actions | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Future Reality Tree, Negative Branches, Assumption List, Improved Injections |
Tagsno overlap | Systems thinkingTradeoffsLeadership | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | Theory of ConstraintsSystems thinkingChange |



