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Selected:Usability TestingAssumption SurfacingARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)Risk Storming
| Criterion | ![]() UX Research Usability Testing | ![]() Decision Making Assumption Surfacing | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) | ![]() Architecture Risk Storming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a product is built but people get stuck on tasks, usability testing shows the friction at concrete points. Observed use instead of self-report makes visible where orientation, understanding, or interaction breaks down. | Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it. | 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. | Helps clarify architecture context, options, and consequences in concrete terms. It organizes technical context, alternatives, and consequences. The result is captured as an Annotated Diagram, a Prioritized Risk List, and an Action Backlog. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h je Session | 45-90 min | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | 60-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | 2-8 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Usability Issues, Severity List, Recommendations | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Annotated Diagram, Prioritized Risk List, Action Backlog |
Tagsno overlap | ValidationUXPrototype | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | RiskArchitectureWorkshopValidation |



