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Selected:User InterviewsSoftware Architecture CanvasRisk StormingARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
| Criterion |  UX Research User Interviews |  Architecture Software Architecture Canvas |  Architecture Risk Storming |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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. | The Software Architecture Canvas reduces a system to the most important architecture decisions, constraints, and interfaces. It is useful when teams need a resilient overall picture quickly. | 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. | 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 | Low | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30–60 min per interview | 1-2 h | 60-90 min | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional |
Participantsdifferent | 1 participant per interview | 3-10 | 4-12 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Architecture Canvas, Goals, Constraints, Quality Attributes | Annotated Diagram, Prioritized Risk List, Action Backlog | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions |
Tagsno overlap | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | CanvasArchitectureAlignmentWorkshop | RiskArchitectureWorkshopValidation | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks |