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Criterion
Four paper stations connect system purpose, quality goals, risk cards and focused investigation with a target and gap profile.
Architecture
LASR (Lightweight Approach for Software Reviews)
Paper mind map with a central course onboarding question, colored main branches, keywords and cross-links.
Facilitation
Mind Mapping
Paper illustration with architecture components and concrete change tasks for comparison.
Architecture
SAAM (Software Architecture Analysis Method)
Purposedifferent
LASR helps development teams identify where their software falls short of important quality goals and which improvements to consider. A small group with existing system knowledge can make an initial assessment and investigate open questions in more detail.When a topic is still unclear and too many thoughts surface at once, Mind Mapping creates an open surface for ordering them. It makes connections, subtopics, and starting points visible without fixing them too early.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.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowHigh
Timedifferent
3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional15-45 minPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope
Participantsdifferent
1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people1-10Architecture experts and stakeholders for scenarios and weighting
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + asyncWorkshop + async
Outputdifferent
Lean Mission Statement describing the software’s purpose, Prioritized quality goals and evaluation criteria, Risks and estimated gaps against quality goals, More closely examined findings and open checksMind Map, Topic Clusters, Open QuestionsDomain 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
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
BrainstormingIdeasMappingStructureFacilitation
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
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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)
Paper illustration for 3-Circle Venn Diagram
Facilitation
3-Circle Venn Diagram
Paper illustration of several people silently writing ideas and passing sheets around with arrows.
Innovation
Brainwriting
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis