Two concepts can be attractive for different reasons. An explicit comparison helps the team choose without pretending that personal preference is a technical requirement.
ASQ's quality-planning guidance connects planned activities and criteria with the requirements a product or process needs to address. ASQ — quality plans.
Describe the criteria
For a hypothetical comparison, distinguish recognisability, proposed construction complexity and other actual project needs. Keep unverified cost or performance assumptions labelled. Avoid adding a criterion after the results simply to make the preferred concept win.
Explain the choice
Record the evidence, unresolved questions and reason for proceeding. A score can support discussion, but it should not erase a critical issue that the comparison method does not capture. Keep alternatives as history rather than deleting the reason they were considered.
The final record should let another reviewer understand the decision. It is more useful than a page of check marks that shows which concept won but not why.
Source reviewed 25 October 2026. Practical interpretation and original illustrations by PLUSHIP / Qunhe; examples are illustrative.
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