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| Criterion |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |  Decision Making Risk Matrix |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. | When a project faces many possible disruptions, it quickly becomes unclear which risks deserve attention first. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Risk Matrix and a Top Risk List. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Low | High |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h | 30-60 min | 30-60 min | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 | 3-10 | 2-8 | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions | Risk Matrix, Top Risk List | 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 |
Tagsno overlap | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation | RiskDecisionPrioritizationAssessment | Root causeQualityOperations | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders |