Free text
Words with three or more characters are matched against name, category, method form, summary, purpose, ideal-for, and tags.
How your recommendation is built
You describe your situation in the recommendation and get a ranking of matching methods. This page explains which signals are used, how they turn into a score, and how to read and improve the result.
Looking for the usage guide instead? Start with Help: Recommendation and Playbooks.
What you enter
Six signals describe your situation. All of them are optional, but every additional signal makes the ranking more precise.
Goal
Each goal type brings search terms and preferred categories.
Phase
Discover, Define, Design, Deliver, Operate, and Grow add phase terms.
Format
Workshop, Async, and Both are compared with the requested mode.
Complexity
Low, Medium, and High can be preferred directly. Any leaves all levels open.
Team size and time
Participant range and timebox are roughly checked against the selected situation.
An example before it gets technical
Your input
Goal: Decide or document architecture. Free text: Architekturentscheidung dokumentieren. Format, complexity, and time stay open.
What happens to Architecture Decision Record
- The category Architecture is one of the preferred goal categories.+8
- Your free-text word hits the method profile.+4
- The goal terms architecture and documentation hit name and tags.+6
- Format, complexity, and time stay open and add neutral base points.+6
Architecture Decision Record ends up with 24 points and ranks first. All other methods are shown as a percentage relative to this top score.
The rule base in detail
All methods are scored with the same rule base. This table is the complete reference for all point values.
SignalScoreLogic
Goal category matches+8Strongest anchor when the method belongs to one of the preferred goal categories.
Goal category misses-3Small penalty when the goal has defined categories and the method sits outside them.
Free-text hit+4 per hitUser words carry high weight because they express the concrete situation.
Goal terms+3 per hitTerms from the selected goal type, such as discovery, roadmap, architecture, or incident.
Phase terms+2 per hitTerms from Discover, Define, Design, Deliver, Operate, or Grow.
Format matches+3Both matches Workshop and Async. Any keeps the mode open.
Format misses-2Penalty when a concrete format was selected and the method works differently.
Complexity matches+2Applies when Low, Medium, or High was selected, or when Any is active.
Complexity misses-1Small penalty because a higher or lower complexity may still be a conscious choice.
Team size fits+2Derived from the method's participant range.
Timebox fits+2Short, half-day, and multi-day or ongoing formats are roughly distinguished.
Unknown time value+1Fallback if a time value outside the intended options is processed.
How to read the result
- Only methods with a score above 2 appear in the ranking.
- At most 12 methods are shown.
- Ranking follows the score. Ties are sorted by method name.
- The percentage is relative to the best method in the current result, not to an absolute ideal.
- Visible reasons show the most important hits, not every internal scoring component.
- Warnings mark time, format, or complexity conflicts when a method still scores well but has a practical caveat.