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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 of a Test Card with four fields for hypothesis, test, metric, and success threshold.
Product Discovery
Test Card
Paper illustration: scenarios and architectural decisions are connected to identified risks.
Architecture
ATAM (Architecture Tradeoff Analysis Method)
Paper illustration of a calm four-quadrant Assumption Map with hypothesis cards and emphasis on important assumptions with little evidence.
Product Discovery
Assumption Mapping
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.The Test Card turns a critical assumption into a testable claim and specifies in advance which result counts as success.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.When assumptions still sit unordered in the room, it weighs uncertainty against leverage. It makes visible which hypotheses should be checked first.
Complexitydifferent
MediumLowHighMedium
Timedifferent
3–4 h for initial assessment; preparation and deeper analysis additional20-35 minSeveral meetings plus preparation and analysis; total effort depends on scope45-60 min
Participantsdifferent
1 or a small team; particularly suitable for 3–4 people1-5Evaluation team, architects, and relevant stakeholders2-8
Formatsame
Workshop + asyncWorkshop + 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 checksTest Card with a pre-set thresholdPrioritized quality scenarios in a utility tree, Architecture risks with reasoning and assumptions, Sensitivity and trade-off points, Findings report with open investigationsAssumption map, Test backlog, Risk ranking
Tagsno overlap
ArchitectureQualityRiskAssessmentLean
ExperimentsValidationDiscoveryHypothesis
ArchitectureQualityRiskTradeoffsStakeholders
AssumptionsRiskExperimentsValidation
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