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Criterion
A hypothetical failure makes concrete risks, signals, and fitting mitigations visible.
Decision Making
Pre-Mortem
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
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.Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it.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.
Complexitydifferent
LowLowMedium
Timedifferent
20–45 min45-90 min1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung
Participantsdifferent
Small cross-functional group2-83-20 Reviewer
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncAsync
Outputdifferent
Risk list, Mitigation plan, Assumption logAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning PlanRFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets
Tags1 shared
RiskDecisionFailurePlanning
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

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 a calm four-quadrant Assumption Map with hypothesis cards and emphasis on important assumptions with little evidence.
Product Discovery
Assumption Mapping
Paper illustration for Constraint Analysis.
Decision Making
Constraint Analysis