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| Criterion | ![]() UX Research User Interviews | ![]() Architecture arc42 | ![]() Decision Making Trade-off Analysis | ![]() Decision Making Assumption Surfacing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | 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. | With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | Medium | Low |
Timedifferent | 30–60 min per interview | 1-2 Tage | 45-120 min | 45-90 min |
Participantsdifferent | 1 participant per interview | 1-4 | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Trade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides | Assumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan |
Tagsno overlap | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions | AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery |



