We decide based on gut feeling
When assumptions remain unspoken or options are stacked against one another, start with evidence methods and decision frameworks.
Canvas hubFill out directly in the browserMarkdown and workshop agenda exportFor architecture and organization diagnostics
Diagnostic canvas
Choose the right starting point for your problem, work through it structurally in the browser, and derive robust interventions.
The hub is not a directory of methods for reading, but a workspace for clarifying symptoms, diagnosing structure, and deciding next steps.
What do I get here?
- Guided canvases per method instead of empty whiteboards
- Method-specific fields for assumptions, boundaries, dependencies, and CLDs
- Direct Markdown export for workshops, ADRs, and follow-up work
Recommended starting points
Do not start with a method. Start with the problem that is blocking you right now.
4 problem entry points
Conflicts about boundaries and roles
When teams, domains or governance work at cross purposes, boundary and stakeholder perspectives come to the rescue first.
The same escalation over and over again
When symptoms return or side effects create new problems, start with dynamics rather than isolated cases.
Delivery is slowed down by dependencies
If handovers, coupling and control logic block, it is worth taking a look at the structure and bottlenecks.
Choose method
Think in terms of problem type, not just method names.
Analyze dynamics
Methods for recurring patterns, escalations, delays and feedback.
Trend view20-30 min
Behaviour over Time Charts
Helpful if you need to understand patterns over time before discussing a cause.
A visualization tool that reveals how system variables such as metrics, debt, or productivity change over time.
recurring fluctuationTrend breakgradual erosion
Feedback loops45-75 min
Causal Loop Diagrams
Helps with recurring dynamics, escalations and unintended side effects.
Visual maps that clarify complex architecture problems by making circular cause-and-effect structures explicit.
EscalationsSide effectsPolicy resistance
Deep structure30-45 min
Iceberg Model
Good when visible incidents point to deeper structural or mental model problems.
An analysis tool for diving below surface-level IT incidents into the deeper mental models and architectural structures beneath them.
recurring incidentssuperficial fixes
Clarify boundaries and stakeholders
Methods for conflicts at interfaces, role models, power and excluded perspectives.
Boundary conflicts45-60 min
Boundary Critique
Useful for conflicts at interfaces between teams, domains or governance levels.
A method for exposing brutal blind spots by questioning what, and who, was actively excluded from an architecture decision.
Interface conflictsblind spotsThose affected without a voice
Power and legitimacy60 min
Critical Systems Heuristics
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
A philosophical diagnostic tool that asks which actors gain power from a software architecture and who is disempowered by it.
unclear legitimacyunequal participation
Influence map20-30 min
Stakeholder Mapping
Helps when power, concern and veto potential shape the course of a decision.
A tool for locating organizational power and potential veto power around architecture decisions.
Veto potentialhidden power
Review assumptions and options
Methods for uncertain decisions, competing perspectives and plausible future scenarios.
Decision confidence30-45 min
Assumption Mapping
Ideal when decisions are based on implicit assumptions and risks are difficult to grasp.
A diagnostic tool for ruthlessly exposing, categorizing, and deliberately testing unspoken assumptions in architecture design.
unclear riskssilent assumptionslack of evidence
Future scenarios45-60 min
Scenario Analysis
Useful when architectural decisions have to be robust to multiple futures.
A stress test for architectures in which the system design must survive radically different but still plausible future worlds.
high uncertaintymultiple plausible futures
Assess structure and governance
Methods for coupling, coordination, governance and organizational viability.
Structural analysis30-60 min
CATWOE Analysis
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
A checklist tool from Soft Systems Methodology for decoding the competing worldviews and interests behind a conflict situation.
unclear problemseveral participants
Coupling30-45 min
Dependency Mapping
Suitable for delivery blockages caused by coupling, handovers and hidden dependencies.
A visualization of technical and organizational entanglements that exposes bottlenecks and dangerous coupling.
Delivery blockagesBottleneckshidden handovers
Rules and governance45-60 min
Policy Structure Mapping
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
A diagnostic method for exposing hidden decision rules that govern the behavior of an entire software organization.
Governance freezeRule conflicts
Structural analysis30-60 min
Rich Picture Mapping
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
A highly visual, almost comic-like tool from Soft Systems Methodology for capturing unspoken tensions, culture, and toxic silos in architecture.
unclear problemseveral participants
Structural analysis30-60 min
Root Definition Analysis
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
An SSM tool for turning extremely vague IT project mission statements into measurable, precise transformation statements.
unclear problemseveral participants
Structural analysis30-60 min
Social Network Analysis
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
SNA exposes the real invisible architecture of organizational cliques by measuring who actually talks to whom and who remains isolated.
unclear problemseveral participants
Structural analysis30-60 min
Soft Systems Methodology
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
A seven-stage framework for structuring highly soft, ambiguous architecture problems where nobody even agrees on what the problem is.
unclear problemseveral participants
Stocks and flows30-45 min
Stock and Flow Mapping
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
The precise quantitative map of systems thinking. It visualizes architecture as a network of stocks that fill and drain through rates.
Queuesaccumulationtoo much WIP
Structural analysis30-60 min
Strategic Options Development and Analysis
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
A facilitation method, SODA, for synthesizing a shared architecture strategy from the hardened subjective opinions found in stakeholders' cognitive maps.
unclear problemseveral participants
Structural analysis30-60 min
Systems Clues in Everyday Language
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
A forensic tool for analyzing stock phrases, excuses, and us-versus-them language in IT meetings in order to uncover hidden architectural sins.
unclear problemseveral participants
Structural analysis30-60 min
Viability Audit with VSM
Use this method to systematically make patterns visible and structure decisions.
An audit tool that ruthlessly tests whether software teams and architectures are biologically viable or structurally destined to collapse.
unclear problemseveral participants
Organizational viability60-90 min
Viable System Model
Useful if you have to consider coordination, control and strategic learning ability together.
A masterpiece of organizational cybernetics that describes the mathematical and fractal structure every software company needs in order to stay alive under intense market pressure.
Coordination gapsunclear controlslack of strategic feedback