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| Criterion |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  Agile WSJF |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Decision Making Pareto 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 many tasks compete for the same capacity, it orders work by economic impact. It makes time lost, benefit, and effort comparable together. | When a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers. | In many problem situations, effect is distributed unequally across many causes. A Pareto Analysis separates the few drivers with high leverage from the long remainder and focuses attention on what measurably moves the needle. |
Complexitydifferent | High | High | Low | Low |
Timedifferent | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 45-90 min | 30-60 min | 30-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 3-10 | 2-8 | 1-6 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | 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 | Ranked Backlog, Cost-of-Delay Assumptions | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Pareto Chart, Top Causes, Focus List |
Tagsno overlap | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | LeanEconomicsSequencePrioritization | Root causeQualityOperations | PrioritizationQualityFocusRoot cause |