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Criterion
Paper illustration of Request for Comments (RFC) with its method-specific working model.
Architecture
Request for Comments
Paper illustration of Decision Rights Mapping with its method-specific working model.
Decision Making
Decision Rights Mapping
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
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.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.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.
Complexitysame
MediumMediumMedium
Timedifferent
1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung90-180 min2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional
Participantsdifferent
3-20 Reviewer4-12Designers, developers as users, and facilitation
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or ticketsDecision Rights Matrix, AgreementPrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance
DecisionGovernanceAlignmentResponsibility
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
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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
Architecture Inception Canvas method illustration showing its working structure
Architecture
Architecture Inception Canvas
Paper illustration of Goal Question Metric with its method-specific working model.
Engineering
Goal Question Metric