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| Criterion |  UX Research Usability Testing |  Architecture Request for Comments |  Architecture arc42 |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | 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. | 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. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h je Session | 1-3 Wochen vom Draft bis zur Entscheidung | 1-2 Tage | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional |
Participantsdifferent | Based on research question | 3-20 Reviewer | 1-4 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Usability Issues, Severity List, Recommendations | RFC document, Reviewer comments, Decision rationale, Follow-up ADR or tickets | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions |
Tagsno overlap | ValidationUXPrototype | ArchitectureDecisionAsyncGovernance | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks |