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Selected:Contextual InquiryATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)Root Cause AnalysisFailure Mode and Effects Analysis
| Criterion |  UX Research Contextual Inquiry |  Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Operations Failure Mode and Effects Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When work processes are known only from accounts and the real context stays hidden, Contextual Inquiry makes behavior at the workplace visible. Observation and follow-up questions together show how people actually work, get interrupted, and improvise. | 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 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. | For a process, product, or service with noticeable failure risks, the method assesses possible failure modes in advance. It directs attention to combinations of occurrence, effect, and detectability. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 1-3 Wochen | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 1-4 h | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 4-12 Beobachtungen | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 3-8 | 3-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Field Notes, Workflow Insights, Pain Points | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | FMEA Table, Risk Priority, Mitigation Actions |
Tagsno overlap | UX researchObservationContext | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | RiskQualityOperationsRoot cause |