| Which PSM contribution fits the engagement? | Compare assumptions, contributions, conditions, and needed outcomes; retain a simpler sufficient route. | A familiar branded PSM is used as a default regardless of the difficulty. | Adapt: PSD.6:4.1–4.3 compare actual ways of doing and their limits. A short comparison costs more than automatic selection but is justified when a missing contribution can reverse the return; it does not require a full method catalogue. | Smith and Shaw’s 2019 PSM characterization is a conceptual comparison candidate that makes differences among approaches inspectable; its exploratory family characterization is not a method-ranking algorithm. Lami and Tavella’s 2019 workshop comparison supplies bounded counterexample evidence to a uniform-usefulness claim: outcomes varied across SCA, SSM, and self-organized workshops in an exploratory MSc-student study. It establishes no universal winner or professional-field effectiveness. | Reopen when the intended outcome or participation conditions change, or better comparative evidence changes the fit of a serious candidate. |
| When does combining Methods improve the result? | Require a distinct contribution and an intelligible join; qualify a composite Method only when its whole action is recovered. | More techniques, a sequence diagram, or an agenda is treated as an integrated Method. | Adapt: PSD.6:4.4–4.6 and the failed-weighting example expose the conversion or missing result. Adopt: A.3.1, A.3.2, and B.1.5 keep reusable way, description, whole-forming facts, and enactment distinct. Extra join work is accepted only for a material contribution; otherwise the single-Method alternative wins. | Marttunen, Lienert, and Belton’s 2017 PSM–MCDA review supplies the critical combination line and concrete interface difficulties, not evidence that arbitrary mixtures work. The current FPF patterns supply identity and composition rules, not empirical validation of this engagement Method. | Reopen when a join loses meaning, a part or whole identity changes, a critical precondition fails, or a single Method supplies the same useful result at lower effort. |