View methods side by side.
Choose up to four methods. Add them using the search and share the comparison by copying its link.
| Criterion |  Decision Making Pre-Mortem |  Architecture Architecture Decision Record |  Product Discovery Smoke Test |  Growth A/B Testing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | In early initiatives with many uncertainties, planning quickly turns too optimistic. A pre-mortem makes the expected failure visible in advance and sharpens the view of causes, gaps, and countermeasures. | 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 demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | When two variants compete, discussions quickly decide by taste rather than effect. A/B Testing checks behavior under controlled conditions and separates real improvement from chance or expectation effects. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 20–45 min | 15-45 min | 1-5 Tage | 1-4 Wochen |
Participantsdifferent | Small cross-functional group | 1-3 | Nutzertraffic | 1-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Async | Async | Async |
Outputdifferent | Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption log | ADR File, Decision Log, Rationale | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Experiment results, Decision log, Learning summary |
Tagsno overlap | RiskDecisionFailurePlanning | ArchitectureRationaleDocumentationGovernance | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | ExperimentsGrowthAnalyticsValidation |