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| Criterion |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  UX Research User Interviews |  Operations 5 Whys |  Operations Root Cause 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 teams derive needs only from assumptions and real motives are missing, user interviews give direct access to behavior and meaning. Conversations from the target group's everyday life make patterns, tensions, and open questions solidly visible. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 30–60 min per interview | 15-30 min | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 1 participant per interview | 2-6 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | 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 | Interview Notes, Themes, Insight Summary | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |