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Criterion
Paper illustration for Smoke Test.
Product Discovery
Smoke Test
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
A paper-based illustration representing arc42 with its core stages and visible working result.
Architecture
arc42
Purposedifferent
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.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.arc42 structures architecture knowledge so teams can document system, decisions, and risks consistently. The template builds a living understanding of the architecture instead of scattered notes.
Complexitydifferent
LowMediumLow
Timedifferent
1-5 Tage2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional1-2 Tage
Participantsdifferent
NutzertrafficDesigners, developers as users, and facilitation1-4
Formatdifferent
AsyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning NotePrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsArchitecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View
Tagsno overlap
ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication
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Often compared together

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

Paper illustration for Fake Door Test
Product Discovery
Fake Door Test
Architecture Communication Canvas method illustration showing its working structure
Architecture
Architecture Communication Canvas
Paper illustration of two considered options leading to a decision record with a marked status and visible consequences.
Architecture
Architecture Decision Record