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| Criterion | ![]() Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) | ![]() Product Discovery Smoke Test | ![]() Product Discovery Test Card |
|---|---|---|---|
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 demand only needs to be roughly verified, it tests interest with minimal effort. It measures whether people would take a next step at all. | The Test Card turns a critical assumption into a testable claim and specifies in advance which result counts as success. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 1-5 Tage | 20-35 min |
Participantsdifferent | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | Nutzertraffic | 1-5 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Async | 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 | Interest Metrics, Conversion Signal, Learning Note | Test Card with a pre-set threshold |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | ValidationExperimentsDemandGrowth | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryHypothesis |
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