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| Criterion |  Architecture Request for Comments |  UX Research User Interviews |  Product Discovery Test Card |
|---|---|---|---|
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. | When teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible. | The Test Card turns a critical assumption into a testable claim and specifies in advance which result counts as success. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 30–60 min per interview | 20-35 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-20 Reviewer | 1 participant per interview | 1-5 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Test Card with a pre-set threshold |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryHypothesis |
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
