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Criterion
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of RAID Log with a method-specific labelled workspace.
Delivery
RAID Log
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change 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.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.Helps clarify scope, sequence, and delivery flow in concrete terms. It makes work, boundaries, and order steerable. The result is captured as a RAID Log and a source for status reporting.For a deviation after a change, the method isolates the influence of the altered condition. It narrows down which differences are relevant and which are just accompanying noise.
Complexitydifferent
HighHighLowMedium
Timedifferent
Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scopePreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope30 min Setup, dann laufend45-120 min
Participantsdifferent
Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholdersArchitecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting1-3 maintaining, briefing for everyone2-6
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncAsyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsDomain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternativesRAID Log, Status Report SourceChange Matrix, Cause Hypotheses, Validation Questions, Action List
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
RiskTrackingStakeholdersGovernance
ChangeRoot causeTroubleshootingComparison
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