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Selected:Failure Scenario AnalysisATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)Test CardAssumption Mapping
| Criterion | ![]() Engineering Failure Scenario Analysis | ![]() Architecture ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method) | ![]() Product Discovery Test Card | ![]() Product Discovery Assumption Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | In critical processes, it is not enough to plan only for the normal case. Failure Scenario Analysis looks at the path into failure and shows which failures, chains, and control gaps cause the most damage. | 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. | The Test Card turns a critical assumption into a testable claim and specifies in advance which result counts as success. | When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | High | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | Several meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope | 20-35 min | 45-60 min |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders | 1-5 | 2-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Failure Scenarios, Risk Notes, Control Gaps, Test and Response Actions | Prioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigations | Test Card with a pre-set threshold | Assumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking |
Tagsno overlap | FailureResilienceRisk | ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders | ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryHypothesis | AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation |



