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Criterion
Paper illustration of a four-quadrant grid with tasks sorted by importance and urgency and translated into actions.
Decision Making
Eisenhower Matrix
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of a calibrated five-by-five risk matrix with response cards.
Decision Making
Risk Matrix
Design sheets and interface cards connect to jointly written pseudocode with highlighted unresolved questions.
Architecture
ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
Purposedifferent
It separates true priorities from noise so it becomes clear what should be done now, scheduled, delegated, or dropped.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 project faces many possible disruptions, it quickly becomes unclear which risks deserve attention first. It separates options, evaluation criteria, and open risks. The result is captured as a Risk Matrix and a Top Risk List.ARID examines how well developers can work with a technical design. It focuses on a part of the system that can still be revised, between the architecture overview and the detailed specification.
Complexitydifferent
LowHighLowMedium
Timedifferent
15-30 minSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope30-60 min2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional
Participantsdifferent
1-6Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders3-10Designers, developers as users, and facilitation
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Eisenhower Matrix, Action List, Delegation NotesPrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsRisk Matrix, Top Risk ListPrioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions
Tagsno overlap
PrioritizationFocusTasks
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
RiskDecisionPrioritizationAssessment
ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks
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