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Selected:Request for CommentsARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Card SortingDecision Rights Mapping
| Criterion | ![]() Architecture Request for Comments | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) | ![]() UX Research Card Sorting | ![]() Decision Making Decision Rights Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | 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. | When content only makes sense internally and users can't find the structure again, card sorting exposes their mental order. Terms, groups, and naming are then aligned with the target group's expectations. | In organizations with many stakeholders, it often blurs who actually decides and who is merely consulted. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Decision Rights matrix and an agreement. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 20-45 min | 90-180 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-20 Reviewer | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | Based on research question | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Content groups, Label set, IA hypotheses | Decision Rights Matrix, Agreement |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | Information architectureNavigationStructure | DecisionGovernanceAlignmentResponsibility |



