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Selected:Fault IsolationSAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)Hypothesis-Driven TroubleshootingARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs)
| Criterion | ![]() Engineering Fault Isolation | ![]() Architecture SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method) | ![]() Engineering Hypothesis-Driven Troubleshooting | ![]() Architecture ARID (Active Reviews for Intermediate Designs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | In technical failures, the visible symptom often gets mixed up with the actual cause. Fault Isolation narrows the fault space and progressively reduces which part of the system is truly affected. | SAAM helps teams judge an architecture’s suitability for selected tasks and changes. It is particularly useful for examining modifiability and comparing architecture alternatives with clear reasoning. | When systems fail unexpectedly, spontaneous attempts often produce more noise than insight. Hypothesis-driven Troubleshooting translates symptoms into testable assumptions and makes troubleshooting learnable. | 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 | Medium | High | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 30-180 min | Preparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope | 30-240 min | 2–4 h review as a planning range; preparation and evaluation additional |
Participantsdifferent | 1-6 | Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting | 1-6 | Designers, developers as users, and facilitation |
Formatsame | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Fault Isolation Map, Test Log, Excluded Hypotheses, Narrowed Fault Area | Domain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternatives | Hypothesis Log, Test Plan, Evidence Notes, Diagnosis Summary | Prioritized development tasks, Jointly produced code or pseudocode, Observed difficulties and open design questions, Proposed design revisions |
Tagsno overlap | TroubleshootingDiagnosisEngineering | ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality | TroubleshootingProblem solvingDiagnosis | ArchitectureEngineeringFeedbackValidationTasks |



