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Selected:ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)Root Cause AnalysisAffinity EstimationFailure Mode and Effects Analysis
| Criterion |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Agile Affinity Estimation |  Operations Failure Mode and Effects 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 keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. | When many tasks need to be classified quickly, it sorts them by perceived effort and similarity. It reduces the effort of fine-grained estimation for large volumes. | For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Medium | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 1-4 h | 30-90 min | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 3-8 | 3-12 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Affinity Size Map, Grouped Estimates, Unclear Items | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | EstimationBacklogRelative sizing | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause |