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Criterion
Paper illustration of a branching impact map with a Why goal at the root, actor circles, How behavior changes and What options.
Product Strategy
Impact Mapping
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Paper fishbone diagram with a measurable effect at the head and six labeled cause branches.
Operations
Fishbone Diagram
Purposedifferent
When a goal needs to be connected to several possible paths, it shows chains of impact instead of feature lists. It connects business goal, behavior change, and measures.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 a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers.
Complexitydifferent
MediumHighLow
Timedifferent
45-90 minPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope30-60 min
Participantsdifferent
3-8Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting2-8
Formatdifferent
WorkshopWorkshop + asyncWorkshop
Outputdifferent
Impact Map, Outcome Hypotheses, Delivery OptionsDomain functions mapped to components and connections, Quality attributes and evaluation criteria, Typical tasks and their effects on the architecture, Reasoned evaluation or comparison of alternativesFishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog
Tagsno overlap
OutcomesStrategyBehaviorPlanning
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
Root causeQualityOperations
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Often compared together

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

Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis
Paper illustration for Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Operations
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
Gap Analysis method illustration showing its working structure
Business Strategy
GAP Analysis
Paper illustration for 8D Problem Solving.
Operations
8D Problem Solving