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Criterion
Systems Mapping method illustration showing its working structure
Systems Thinking
Systems Mapping
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration for Evaporating Cloud.
Systems Thinking
Evaporating Cloud
Paper illustration for Future Reality Tree.
Systems Thinking
Future Reality Tree
Purposedifferent
Systems Mapping arranges elements, relationships, and boundaries so a complex field becomes legible at a glance. The overview stabilizes the overall picture before detail work or steering begins.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.The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict.A Future Reality Tree shows how desired actions are meant to lead to a better system state. The method checks whether a path of change holds together logically before time flows into implementation.
Complexitydifferent
MediumMediumMediumHigh
Timedifferent
1-3 h2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional60-120 min2-4 h
Participantsdifferent
3-12Designers, developers as users, and facilitation2-83-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop
Outputdifferent
System Map, Dependencies, Leverage PointsPrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisionsConflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next ExperimentsFuture Reality Tree, Negative Branches, Assumption List, Improved Injections
Tagsno overlap
Systems thinkingMappingBoundariesChange
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking
Theory of ConstraintsSystems thinkingChange
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