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Selected:ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)Evaporating CloudAssumption Mapping
| Criterion |  Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |  Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) |  Systems Thinking Evaporating Cloud |  Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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. | The method makes visible why two seemingly incompatible demands arise and which assumption must be tested to resolve the conflict. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 60-120 min | 45-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 2-8 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | 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 | Conflict Cloud, Assumption List, Breakthrough Ideas, Next Experiments | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | Theory of ConstraintsAssumptionsSystems thinking | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation |