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Selected:arc42ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
| Criterion |  Architecture arc42 |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | arc42 structures architecture knowledge so teams can document system, decisions, and risks consistently. The template builds a living understanding of the architecture instead of scattered notes. | ARID examines how well developers can work with a technical design. It focuses on a part of the system that can still be revised, between the architecture overview and the detailed specification. | SAAM helps teams judge an architecture’s suitability for selected tasks and changes. It is particularly useful for examining modifiability and comparing architecture alternatives with clear reasoning. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 1-2 Tage | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope |
Participantsdifferent | 1-4 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Architecture Document, Context View, Runtime View, Deployment View | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions | Domain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternatives |
Tags1 shared | ArchitectureDocumentationCommunication | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality |
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