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Criterion
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of two people facing each other, speech bubbles and an open interview notebook.
UX Research
User Interviews
Paper illustration for Opportunity Interview
Product Discovery
Opportunity Interview
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing
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.When opportunities are still hidden behind signals of need, it structures conversations around needs and obstacles. It looks for patterns that lead to new product opportunities.Plans often contain assumptions that were never openly stated and remain dangerous precisely because of that. Assumption Surfacing makes these silent premises visible and prioritizes which of them carry the initiative or could sink it.
Complexitydifferent
HighLowMediumLow
Timedifferent
Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope30–60 min per interview30-60 min je Interview45-90 min
Participantsdifferent
Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders1 participant per interview5-12 Interviews2-8
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsInterview Notes, Themes, Insight SummaryInterview Notes, Opportunity Themes, Customer QuotesAssumption List, Critical Assumptions, Learning Plan
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
QualitativeResearchCustomerDiscovery
DiscoveryInterviewsOpportunityCustomer
AssumptionsRiskDecisionDiscovery
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