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| Criterion |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Operations Fault Tree Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | 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 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. | For a critical top event with several possible triggers, the method logically models failure paths. It makes visible which combinations of conditions can lead to damage. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | High |
Timedifferent | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 30-60 min | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 2-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Fault Tree, Critical Paths, Cause Hypotheses, Control Actions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | Root causeQualityOperations | RiskRoot causeSafety |
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Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.
