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Selected:Acceptance Criteria WorkshopFishbone DiagramATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)Specification by Example
| Criterion |  Agile Acceptance Criteria Workshop |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  Agile Specification by Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When a story needs clear checkpoints before implementation, it sharpens expectation and scope together. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as Acceptance Criteria and a Story Update. | When a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers. | ATAM helps teams weigh architecture decisions when quality goals compete. The team considers business goals, stakeholder expectations, and technical decisions together. The evaluation shows which risks need further investigation. | When business rules need to become precise, it ties language, example, and test together. It sorts work by value, risk, and delivery ability. The result is captured as an Example Table and Acceptance Tests. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Low | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 20-40 min pro Story | 30-60 min | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 60-90 min pro Feature |
Participantsdifferent | 3-6 | 2-8 | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 3-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Acceptance Criteria, Story Update | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Example Table, Acceptance Tests |
Tagsno overlap | AgileRequirementsRefinementBehavior-Driven Development | Root causeQualityOperations | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | AgileRequirementsExamplesBehavior-Driven Development |