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Criterion
Paper illustration of a decision table with criteria rows, weighted ratings, and a narrowly leading alternative.
Decision Making
Decision Matrix
Paper illustration for Risk Storming.
Architecture
Risk Storming
Paper illustration for Trade-off Analysis.
Decision Making
Trade-off Analysis
Purposedifferent
When several options collide with several criteria, comparison quickly becomes subjective. A Decision Matrix makes the trade-off visible and brings weighting, criteria, and options into a shared logic.Helps clarify architecture context, options, and consequences in concrete terms. It organizes technical context, alternatives, and consequences. The result is captured as an Annotated Diagram, a Prioritized Risk List, and an Action Backlog.With limited resources, quality, speed, cost, and risk almost always compete with each other. Trade-off Analysis makes these tensions explicit and prevents decisions from producing hidden side effects.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowMedium
Timedifferent
45-90 min60-90 min45-120 min
Participantsdifferent
2-84-122-8
Formatdifferent
Workshop + asyncWorkshopWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Decision Matrix, Scoring Rationale, Selected OptionAnnotated Diagram, Prioritized Risk List, Action BacklogTrade-off Matrix, Criteria List, Decision Rationale, Accepted Downsides
Tagsno overlap
DecisionCriteriaScoringTradeoffs
RiskArchitectureWorkshopValidation
TradeoffsDecisionCriteriaOptions
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Often compared together

Methods with strong topical overlap with the current selection, not yet in the comparison.

Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Paper illustration of a calm four-quadrant Assumption Map with hypothesis cards and emphasis on important assumptions with little evidence.
Product Discovery
Assumption Mapping
Paper illustration of an assumption matrix with prioritized test cards
Decision Making
Assumption Surfacing