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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 illustration for Option Framing.
Decision Making
Option Framing
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.In early decisions, alternatives are often still vague, incomplete, or blended together. Option Framing brings every possibility into a comparable form and makes visible which variant actually fits the question.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
MediumMediumHigh
Timedifferent
3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional45-120 minPreparation, scenario analysis, and findings review; effort depends on scope
Participantsdifferent
1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people3-8Architecture 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 checksOption Frames, Assumption Notes, Comparable Shortlist, Decision InputsDomain 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
OptionsDecision framingStrategyComparison
ArchitectureChangeAnalysisComparisonQuality
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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 TOWS Matrix.
Business Strategy
TOWS Matrix
Paper illustration of Business Model Stress Test with its method-specific working model.
Business Strategy
Business Model Stress Test
Paper illustration for Change Analysis.
Operations
Change Analysis